Breaking Free
by sorahart
Summary: In a future where Apokolips has conquered Earth and executed all of it's heroes, all hope seems lost. But now, the children of the JLA are banding together! Can they overcome their differences and free humanity, or will they fall like their parents did?
1. A Dark Future

Chapter One: A Dark Future

"You know, it used to be simple. There was good and there and was evil, and good always won and people were happy. That was all in the past though, happiness doesn't even exist anymore. Apokolips butchered all the heroes and took that away. And as a result, I've now had to spend sixteen years rotting in this hellhole! Yeah, today is my sixteenth birthday. And I swear, if I have to spend one more day in this damn cave, I am going to dig my own eyes out with a fork! This is Tommy Gray, signing out on October 15th, year… who the hell cares?"

Tommy turned off the video journal and slid it into his pocket.

"Another bright and cheery journal entry from you, Tommy?" A girl joked, hanging upside down off the foot of her bed. The girl was Allie Queen, daughter of Black Canary and Green Arrow (Dinah Lance and Oliver Queen).

"I'm not in the mood Allie." Tommy warned, standing up and cracking his neck.

"You know, you really are a poet, Tommy. I especially liked the part where you talked about digging your own eyes out with a fork. Very colorful choice of words." Allie continued, flipping over to sit up on the bed. Allie was the kind of girl who could sarcasm you to death, and she took great pleasure in the act. She was two months younger than Tommy, so she was still fifteen. She had perfect, golden hair and emerald green eyes, not to mention the warmest smile you'll ever see.

She was like the complete opposite of Tommy Gray. He was tall and lean, but with a good build. His hair was black and moved halfway down his neck, while his bangs were kept level with his eyes, which were a dark brown, and shone with a fiery hatred for just about everything around him. He didn't know who his parents were, but he had tried countless times to find out from Dinah, the last living hero.

Dinah, a.k.a. Black Canary and also Allie's mother, had been the only hero to survive Apokolips' attack on Earth fourteen years ago. She made a hideout in the Justice Cave, below Mt. Justice, one of the few places that Apokoliptian forces never discovered. She had raised her daughter Allie in secrecy, as well as Tommy, whom she treated like a son. But she would never tell Tommy who his parents were, something that he had never let go of.

"You're even grumpier than normal today Tommy." Allie remarked, standing up and stretching her arms. "Cheer up man, it's your birthday."

"I said I'm not in the mood, ok?" Tommy snapped.

"Geesh, what crawled up your ass this morning?" She muttered.

"I'm just sick of this."

"Sick of what?"

"I don't know… life, I guess." Tommy said, an absent look in his eyes. "This life. Every single day, it's the same here. Nothing ever changes."

"Well what else are we supposed to do? This is the only safe place on Earth."

"Then I think I'd rather go outside and take my chances."

"Fine by me." A third voice said, startling them both. Tommy looked over and saw Quinton was in the room. Quinton is the son of The Question and Huntress, and the third member of their "family," as Dinah called it.

Huntress had been Dinah's best friend, almost like a sister. So Dinah considered Quinton her nephew. Quinton was eighteen, two years older than Tommy. Apparently his parents had been some of the first to die in the invasion. Question had actually infiltrated Darkseid's ranks, but was caught tampering with weapons and was executed on the first day of the invasion. Huntress had then exploded with rage, and went off on her own to try and take revenge. Rumor has it that she killed almost a million Parademons that night before she was taken out by Darkseid himself.

So Quinton had been left in Dinah's custody at the age of four, and like Tommy and Allie, had pretty much grown up in the Justice Cave. But the other two rarely ever interacted with Quinton, because he was always secluding himself. He seemed to go out of his way to avoid human interaction, and would occasionally disappear for days at a time. And now there he sat, reading a book he had picked up in the cave library.

Tommy ripped the book out of Quinton's hands and tossed it on the floor. "Hey! What the hell are you doing? Just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you have to-"

"Shut up Quinton." Tommy barked.

"How about showing a little respect? After all, I'm a full two years older than you are and-"

"So you've wasted two more years than I have. Congratulations." Tommy stormed walked toward the door.

"Tommy-" Allie started.

"Don't talk to me!" He cut her off and stormed out of the room.

"What's his problem?" Quinton shook his head and picked up the book again. His gingery red hair completely contradicted with his dark, almost purple eyes.

"Don't take it personally Q." Allie patted him on the shoulder. "Tommy feels things differently than we do."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you and I are content down here because we have everything we need. A library, a gym, old movies and stuff, plenty of food… everything we need. But Tommy… he doesn't have what he needs down here."

"What more could he need? Human beings only require a few basic necessities, food, water, that sort of thing. Although I do have my doubts that Tommy is really human…"

"That's not what I mean, Q. Tommy needs to feel like he has a purpose. He wants a reason to be alive, you know? And down here, he doesn't feel that. Because we've spent our entire lives just hiding… and he really can't stand it."

"I don't get it." Quinton shrugged/

"Q, you really are a lost cause." Allie laughed. "Still, I hate to see him like this. I'm afraid he's going to do something stupid." Allie walked to the other end of the room and back, thinking. Then a bright look crossed over her face and she smiled.

"Uh oh…" Quinton groaned. "I know that look. What is it this time?"

"Q, do you think you can my mom distracted for a while? Like, just for an hour or so?"

"Sure. Why?"

"I have an idea to cheer Tommy up."

"Hah! Good luck. The guy's been in a perpetual bad mood for sixteen years."

"Just keep my mom busy for a while, ok?"

"I suppose I don't have anything better to do."

**(New Metropolis – Orphanage)**

Metropolis had been the proudest city of free world. Massive, wealthy, and beautiful. So when Darkseid took control of Earth, he created New Metropolis. Still the largest city, and also one of the few cities not in ruins, but now it was dark, depressing, and dingy. Just like the rest of the world under Apokoliptian rule. New Metropolis was home to many of the hellish orphanages run by Granny Goodness, in which children were brainwashed into being utterly loyal to Darkseid.

SANCTION was one of the largest of those orphanages, and also one of the most heavily guarded. And it was exactly where a mysterious figure was headed. A figure that goes by the name of Ricochet.

Ricochet stood on top of a nearby building and surveyed the rooftop of SANCTION. There were four robotic eyes floating around that would trigger an alarm the second they saw him. Also on the roof were two armed drones, with their backs facing each other.

"Too easy." Ricochet chuckled through his mask, which was a black slate with yellow-tinted slits for the eyes. The mask fit over only his face, concealing his identity. His hair hung long at the sides, and was a sandy brown color. He wore all black for stealth purposes. "Let the games begin." Ricochet leapt off of the building he was on and began plummeting toward the SANCTION rooftop. As he fell, he pulled out a gauntlet-looking device and slid it onto his wrist. He then took aim with it and fired an EMP pulse at one of the eye drones, temporarily blinding it. Now that he had a blind spot open, the next part was easy.

Ricochet landed in front of the blinded eye and pulled a heavy steel marble out of his pocket. There was the sound of an electrical surge from him, and then the marble fired out of his hand like a bullet! It hit another one of the eyes, which was facing a different way, and smashed it. The marble then bounced off and with perfect precision, struck a third eye and destroyed it. And in a work of mastery, it ricocheted off and took out the forth eye. The marble then flew back to his hand.

The armed drones noticed him and turned to open fire. Ricochet leapt into the air and landed behind the two drones, and touched them both in the back. "You get a positive charge…" He said to the right drone. "And lefty, you get a negative charge." Suddenly the two drones smashed into each other like a pair of magnets attracting each other. They began spinning around violently trying to pry themselves off of each other, and eventually spun right off the rooftop.

"Like I said, too easy." Ricochet laughed. He moved over to a glass skylight made up of square glass tiles locked together. He touched his hand to one of the tiles. "Never tried this on glass before…" He said to himself. "But I can magnetize anything inorganic, and last I checked, glass wasn't alive." He did his best to magnetize just the one tile, and then raised his hand. The tile came right with it. "Yes!" He demagnetized the tile and then dropped down through the square gap in the skylight.

But he didn't touch the floor. Instead he began to walk on the metal ceiling! Ricochet had found countless uses for his ability to control magnetism, but walking on the ceiling was easily his favorite.

He began to casually take steps down the hall, while handing upside down. When a parademon walked through on guard duty, it passed right under Ricochet, unaware of his presence. Ricochet reached down and grabbed the parademon by the back of his armor, and quickly snapped his neck.

Ricochet then fished around on the dead parademon's armor for a moment before finding a key. He took the keycard, dropped down to the floor, and shoved the dead guard into a closet. Ricochet then moved over to the control room door, and used the keycard to enter. The control room was completely automated, and Ricochet quickly fired another EMP at the alarm system before taking another step. He began scanning over the security screens.

"I'll be here all night if I try to find her like this… I need to find where they keep a list of names, that way I can find out what cell block she's in." Ricochet muttered to himself. After searching for a moment, he found the room where the names would be stored. He quickly used his magnetic abilities to pry the grate off of an air vent, and then started crawling through.

After several minutes of crawling Ricochet reached the room that he wanted to be in. He kicked down the grate and dropped it right on top of the guard's head, knocking him out. Ricochet then descended into the open room and moved over to the holo-computer, where he quickly began looking through all of the names of children in the orphanage.

"Come on… L, L, where's L?" He muttered to himself, scrolling down the list. Suddenly there was a blast behind him, and a laser-shot destroyed the consol. "Damn it!" Ricochet turned around to see Sportsmaster holding a laser rifle. Some of the villains who sided with Apokolips during the invasion had been allowed to live, and were given jobs. Sportsmaster had been made chief of security for all of the orphanages on Earth.

"Ricochet! If I'd known it was you, there wouldn't have been a warning shot." Sportsmaster announced.

"You're really doing this again?" Ricochet sighed. "I kick your ass every single time. Anyone with half a brain wouldn't given up by now."

"This is the end of the line, punk." Sportsmaster looked at the guards behind him. "Kill him!" A hail of laser fire erupted.

Ricochet used his power over magnetism to pull all the tiles off the floor, and began using them as shields, blocking each blast with a different tile. But each time the tile shattered. He wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

Ricochet drew five steel marbles from his pocket, and infused them with a positive charge. He then sent a negative charge through his hand, causing them to repel away from him like bullets. The marbles struck down several of the guards, and then had a pinball effect in the hallway, bouncing off of the walls repeatedly and striking guards again each time.

Ricochet took advantage of the opening and sprinted out the door, punching Sportsmaster into a wall along the way. He collected up the marbles and broke started to run, only to find a locked door.

Within seconds Sportsmaster was taking aim again. Ricochet tried magnetically to pull his gun away from him, but found that he could not.

"The guns are made of nonmagnetic materials, punk. And since you aren't in physical contact with them, you can't magnetize them. I've been preparing for this encounter."

"I just want to see my sister!" Ricochet yelled.

"And what makes you think she's even still alive?" Sportsmaster taunted, preparing to pull the trigger.

"You know, you really are an idiot." Ricochet's eyes narrowed.

"How so?"

"Because you may be using plastic guns, but you're still dumb enough to wear steel toed boots."

"Huh?" Sportsmaster realized that he couldn't move his feet! Ricochet had magnetized the concrete floor, and stuck Sportsmaster's boots to them! Ricochet then reversed the charge in the floor, causing it to repel Sportsmaster, and the villain flew headfirst into the ceiling!

"See ya'!" Ricochet shouted, running passed him and jumping forcefully off a parademon's shoulders, shoving him to the ground.

Ricochet leapt through the window and began plummeting toward the ground. He grabbed a hold of one of the steel bars from the window frame and planted his feet on it, then used magnetism to keep it in the air. He began flying on it like a hover board, soaring away from the building.

Jets roared behind him, and he looked back to see Sportsmaster and two Parademons chasing after him with jetpacks.

"Give up already!" Ricochet shouted, speeding up. A javelin sailed just passed his head. Ricochet caught the back of it and swung it around, striking a parademon in the face. The next thing he knew, lasers were whizzing by. "Come on!" Ricochet eyed a tall stone building ahead. "Just a little bit further…"

Once he neared the building, he pulled upward and started gliding straight up, but touched his hand against the stone wall, sliding his fingers across it as he soared. Behind him, his pursuers prepared to move upward, but found that they were no longer in control. Ricochet was magnetizing the building, and their jetpacks were pulling straight into a stone wall!

The two parademons hit the wall and splattered. Sportsmaster was just about to make contact with the stone when he was jerked upward by magnetism. He was forcefully pulled up until he was eye-to-eye with Ricochet.

"Run back to Granny Goodness." Ricochet instructed. "Tell her I'm coming… and her days are numbered." Then he touched his hand to Sportsmaster's chest plate and sent an opposite charge through him, blasting Sportsmaster backwards at the speed of sound!

The young hero then moved on, knowing he had to disappear before reinforcements arrived.

**(Justice Cave – Training Room)**

Tommy Gray stood in the holographic arena, fighting holographic images of villains. He had been doing this for a few hours now, blowing off steam. Just as he was punching Gorilla Grodd in the nose, the images faded. The machine had been turned off.

"What the hell?" Tommy turned around angrily and saw that it was Diana who had deactivated the machine.

"Watch your mouth Tommy." She said, walking toward him. "You seem really agitated lately. Even more so than normal. Care to tell me what's wrong?"

"Not really." Tommy looked away from her.

"Come on, you can talk to me."

"I know I can. The issue here is that I don't want to."

"You sound a lot like your father." She grinned slightly. "I'm just not sure if that's a good thing."

"I'd help you figure it out if I knew who my father was. Either of my parents, really."

"Huh… I'm sorry Tommy."

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because they didn't want you to know."

"Well they aren't here!"

"Tommy-"

"I deserve to know, Dinah!"

"I'm not disagreeing with you. But I respect them too much to tell you the truth. It was your father's dying wish that you never found out who he was, so that you could have a normal life."

"Yeah, because spending my entire life locked up in a cave is _really _normal."

"If you're anything like him, you'll find out yourself someday." She smiled.

"What does that even mean?"

"You'll understand someday."

"Someday… I am so sick of hearing that word! _Someday_ we'll be able to go outside and not worry about being slaughtered! _Someday _I'll be able to actually see the sun! _Someday _I'll understand everything! Well guess what Dinah, 'someday' is never going to come! So about we make it today?"

"I know this isn't the life you want. None of us want this."

"Quinton seems pretty happy with it."

"Quinton is a freak. Don't tell him I said that though."

"No promises."

"My point is that we have to make do with what we have, and wait for things to get better."

"But things won't get better if we just sit around and do nothing! Am I the only one who understands that?"

"No. God, no, Tommy. You think I don't know that? If I had even the slightest idea what to do, I would. But right now, there's nothing that we _can_ do."

"We can try. But you're too afraid of that, aren't you?"

"Tommy-"

"No. I'm done talking to you. Please, just leave me alone."

"Ok. For now." Dinah then left. Tommy turned on the combat simulator again, and no sooner than it was on, it switched off again.

"Are you kidding me?" Tommy spun around. This time it was Allie who had turned off the machine. "What do you want? Are you going to try and give me a pep talk too?" Tommy yelled.

"Come on out, Mr. Sunshine. I have a surprise for you."

"I hate surprises."

"What don't you hate?"

"Good point." Tommy stepped out of the simulator reluctantly. "What is it?"

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I told you it's a surprise."

"Allie, this had better not be some sort of stupid birthday party you guys threw together."

"No, you would probably commit suicide if we did that."

"You know me too well."

"Hurry up, will you Sunshine? Q won't be able to keep my mom distracted forever."

"How does Q plan to distract Dinah?" Tommy asked skeptically.

Suddenly there was a huge explosion from the other end of the cave, followed by the sound of Dinah screaming, "Quinton! What the hell did you do?"

"Probably something involving that explosion." Allie shrugged. "Now come on!"

First Allie reached her room and opened the door. "Come on in."

"Why?" Tommy took a step back.

"Dude, it's not like I'm going to molest you or anything." Allie rolled her eyes. "I just need to pick something up from here before we can get to your big surprise."

Allie slept in Green Arrow's old room, which looked simple at first glance. But Allie had found plenty of Playboy magazines hidden throughout the room over the years. She had given those to Quinton.

One of the secret hiding places she had discovered was a secret compartment in the wall, behind the bed frame. She pulled the bed away and opened up the compartment, reaching in side. "I stole this from my mom this morning." She grinned, pulling out a key.

"A key? That's my big surprise?"

"No stupid. This is how we get into your surprise.'

They then continued on to the other end of the cave, until they reached a large doorway that they had never been allowed to go through before. Dinah had explained that the doorway led higher up into the mountain, to an area that Darkseid's forces had ransacked. Luckily they had never found the entrance into the lower level, but Dinah never allowed the kids to go up any higher, saying that they could be caught there.

"Wait, you mean that key…" Tommy almost smiled. Almost.

"Yup. We finally get to find out why my moms so paranoid about us seeing what's up there."

"You sure about this Allie?"

"Come on Tommy, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I'm not saying I have doubts, I'm making sure _you _really want to go through with it."

"Well in that case, I'm offended that you even need to ask." She laughed and opened up the door. After climbing the stairs, she and Tommy came out into a massive dome-shaped room. It was filled with hundreds of trophies from battles, as well as weapons and tools used by the League.

"Whoa…" Allie looked around.

"This place must have served as both a trophy room and an armory. No wonder Dinah didn't want us up here, imagine the kind of stuff we could find." Tommy moved around the room, looking at the many implements of destruction.

"Tommy! Look at this!" Allie yelled, and he moved over to her. His eyes widened when he saw what she was looking at. Costumes. The costumes of every member of the Justice League, in glass display cases. Most of them were damaged, torn and tattered, but still incredible to see in person.

"My mom must have put these on display after the invasion." Allie remarked.

"Yeah, probably an honorary thing. Kind of like a memorial to the fallen heroes." Tommy agreed.

Allie found the Green Arrow suit, which was placed under a special light. Flowers lay at the foot of the display case. Dinah must have put them there. "My dad." Allie ran her hand down the glass.

"Wonder if my dad was anybody in here." Tommy said absently. "Probably not."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I don't think I'm a League kid. I mean, look at you and Q. You inherited your mom's sonic scream, and Q… well he's like a half-Italian Question. But I don't have anything like that."

"You could be Batman's kid or something?" Allie suggested.

"No." Tommy looked at the Batman suit. "I don't know how… but I know that there is no way in hell he was my dad."

"Whatever." Allie shrugged and returned her focus to the Green Arrow suit. Soon she had retrieved his bow and his entire arsenal of arrows, and started shooting at flies buzzing around the ceiling. Sure enough, she was a crack shot.

"Wonderful." Tommy muttered. "She got the best from both parents." He pulled out his knife. "And all I have is this."

Tommy had always had a jet black bowie knife. Dinah told him that it was a gift from his father. Then a small, crazy idea began to form in Tommy's mind.

Looking over to make sure Allie was distracted, he went through the nearest wing of the armory, Batman's section, and started loading up on weapons. He took a utility belt and filled it with some baterangs, a battle pole, and some smoke pellets. Then he slid two grapples onto each wrist. He pulled a leather jacket from one of the trophy cases, probably taken from a villain at some point, and slid it on over his black hoody. He also slid on two black gloves from the collection, and ran toward the bat cycle, sat prominently on display in the center of the room.

"Hope there's gas in this thing." He muttered, turning the key in the ignition. The machine roared to life. Tommy grinned and pulled up his hood, and then eyed a large hole in the ceiling left from Darkseid's raid.

"Tommy?" Allie turned around. "What are you doing?"

"Bye Allie." Tommy said loudly before shooting out a grapple and using it to pull down a large display case, which landed on an angle over a smaller one. Tommy drove forward and used it as a ramp, and sailed straight through the hole in the ceiling!

"Wait! Tommy!" He heard Allie screaming, but soon she could no longer be heard. Tommy landed the bike and began driving down the winding path around the mountain.

"I'm sick of doing nothing." He grumbled. "It's time I got a taste of the real world."

**In the next chapter I introduce Jesse West, and you won't believe the trouble Tommy causes! So stay tuned… **


	2. Joyride

Chapter Two: Joyride 

**(Apokolips – Darkseid's Palace)**

Darkseid stood prominently on the balcony of his palace, overlooking the hellish planet that was Apokolips. Desaad approached from behind. "Lord Darkseid. I bring news."

"Speak." Darkseid commanded.

"The vigilante known as Ricochet, the one who has been attacking orphanages all over Earth…"

"What about him?"

"Just last night, he infiltrated SANCTION. He made quite a mess of the place."

"And am I to understand that he escaped?" A dangerous anger suddenly lined the edges of Darkseid's voice.

"I am afraid so sir." Desaad nodded. "But, it was Sportsmaster who failed to capture him." He quickly added, hoping to redirect the dark lord's wrath away from him.

"This isn't the first time Sportsmaster has failed us. I have given him far too many chances. Kill him."

"Yes sir, it will done within the hour. And what of the vigilante?"

"He is simply a new 'hero' rising to oppose us. And we shall crush him like we did the ones before."

**(Wooded Area far outside Mt. Justice)**

Tommy enjoyed the first twenty minutes of his ride. After that, everything went to hell. He pulled onto an old road outside the woods, and was immediately met with machine gun fire pounding the pavement around him. Tommy whipped his head up to see two slick black aircraft coming in behind him.

"Shit!" Tommy swerved out of the way of more machine gun fire. "Road's too narrow for this… time for a detour." Tommy jumped the bike over the damaged guard rails of his left, and began sliding the tires down an extremely steep slope. Bullets struck the ground in front of him, throwing up a haze of dirt. He leapt off of the batcycle just in time before it rammed straight into the line of fire and was turned into scrap metal.

Tommy rolled violently down the side of the hill, unable to get a grip on anything. He finally got his footing on a ledge, about forty feet above a lake below. Then the foothold gave out, the dirt crumbling under his weight. Tommy began to fall, and swiftly activated his stolen battle-pole, raising it above his head. The ends of the pole caught on the ledge around the area that had given out, holding Tommy in place.

He listened for a moment, and found that he no longer heard the aircraft. Maybe he had lost them? Then his hopes were crushed. One of them floated up right in front of him as he dangled!

The machine guns automatically pointed toward Tommy's exposed chest. "Uh-oh." He dug into his pocket and whipped out a smoke pellet, which burst against the darkened windshield. Tommy quickly kicked his legs out forward and swung. He grabbed onto the skis on the bottom of the aircraft.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that the body of the craft was electrified. Tommy was instantly shocked at a deadly intensity, and plummeted limply into the waters below. He hit with startling force, and immediately gulped in a large dose of liquid. His body still numb from the shock, Tommy couldn't move himself to swim. He just kept sinking lower and lower, his lungs screaming for air. And soon, everything went black.

**(Ruins of Gotham – Gotham Harbor – Four Hours Later)**

"Ah-ack! Ack!" Tommy woke up coughing. He sat straight up and looked around. He was lying on a wooden floor, with an old tattered blanket over him. He was in some kind of run down shack.

"Oh, you're awake." A feminine voice said, breaking the silent air. Tommy looked over to see a girl about his age, wearing sandals, cargo shorts, and a blue t-shirt. She was tan, and had long silvery hair with sparkling blue eyes. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Where am I?"

"I asked my question first."

"I'm fine. Now I'll ask again, where am I?"

"Gotham."

"What?"

"Gotham Harbor to be exact."

"The harbor…?"

"Dude, did the water damage you're eardrums or something? That's what I _just _told you."

"How did I wind up in Gotham? Last I remember…"

"You were getting your ass kicked by sky patrol and then sinking like a rock?"

"Yeah, something like that. About four hundred miles away from here."

"I found you at the bottom of the lake, brought you here."

"What were you doing at that lake?"

"Seeing what all the machine gun fire was about. Which goes back to you getting your ass kicked."

"How long have I been out?"

"About four hours."

"So… you showed up at the lake, found me lying at the bottom, and brought me to a harbor four hundred miles away within four hours?"

"Uh-huh. It takes you a while to get what people say to you, doesn't it?"

"Whatever. Clearly you're insane." Tommy got to his feet.

"I've been called worse." She shrugged.

"I'm Tommy Gray. Who the hell are you?"

"The name's Flo."

"Flo, huh?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

"Not really." Tommy found his jacket and slid it back on. "Hope you weren't planning on me staying."

"You go out there, you're probably going to get killed. Civilians aren't allowed into the harbor area, so there's little to worry about here. But beyond that, it's the same old Apokoliptian hellhole that you'd find anywhere else."

"So what are you doing out here?"

"I'm not a civilian. Apokolips doesn't know I exist, and I aim to keep it that way."

"I can relate." Tommy's eyes suddenly widened. "Where's my knife?" He demanded.

"Oh, the knife… I think I put that-"

"Where – the hell – is my knife?" He shouted.

"Whoa, calm down! Here!" She reached under an old rug and handed him the black-bladed bowie knife. "You've got some anger issues, dude."

"I've heard." Tommy slid the knife into it's sheath, always kept at his side, and then headed out the door.

"You know, a 'thank you' would be nice. I did save your life, after all."

"Gratitude isn't really my thing."

"Well don't expect to be saved again with that attitude."

"Whatever." Tommy moved out the door.

"You sure you don't want to stick around a while?" She followed him out.

"Not a chance."

"Why the big hurry?"

"Mostly because you really annoy me."

"Huh?" She gave him a funny look.

"It's not you, ok? I just hate people in general."

"Alright." She shrugged. "If you're leaving, at least let me fix you're arm up."

Tommy pulled down his sleeve and saw that his arm was covered in huge bruises and cuts. That was the side he had been sliding on down the rocky hill.

"How do you plan to fix it?" He turned around skeptically, now certain this girl was insane.

"Watch." She grinned. Flo waved her hand, and a ball of water floated up out of the lake. "Apokolips has really polluted these waters, but I can remove all the impurities pretty easily." She said as a thick black gunk suddenly separated itself from the water.

"What the…" Tommy gasped as the now clean water encased his arm, and began to glow. And instantly, his wounds began to heal! Within about a minute and a half, his arm was as good as new.

"How did you do that?" He asked in astonishment.

"My dad spent so much time with the Healing Hand that I kind of inherited water's healing abilities."

"What? Your dad… what are you talking about?"

"Duh. My dad was Aquaman." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then she dove into the water and disappeared.

"What – a – freak." Tommy shook his head and continued on his way.

**(Ruins of Gotham City – About an Hour Later)**

Tommy walked quickly through the streets, his hood pulled down over his eyes. But he still glanced under it at all the starving, ill, dying citizens. The average citizen of Earth now that Apokolips was in control.

**"Identification Please." **An automated voice said behind him. Tommy whipped around so see a drone of some sort floating behind him. **"Identification Please." **It repeated.

"Oh, uh… Tommy Gray."

**"Name: Tommy Gray- Not Registered." **It's clawed arm then shot out and grabbed his right arm, pulling it up. The drone then scanned Tommy's wrist. **"No Identification Tattoo. Prepare for Execution ."**

The drone fired a laser straight at Tommy's face from point blank range! He ducked just in time and jerked his arm forward with the drone still grabbing onto it. He smashed the drone into the ruined asphalt beneath his feet several times before it let go. He then kicked the drone like a football and sent it spiraling to the curb.

Then the next thing Tommy new, there were laser pointers buzzing around his torso. He looked around the crowd and saw that many of the hooded citizens were actually Apokolip's secret police, assassin drones that disguised themselves as humans and killed anything that was out of the ordinary.

"Damn it I hate robots." Tommy grumbled.

He fired a grapple upwards just before they opened fire. The grapple latched onto a floating eye drone above, which constantly reported what was happening in the streets to Darkseid.

Tommy pulled upward as the secret police fired, causing a few of them to shoot each other. He planted his foot on the eye drone's camera and leapt off backward, doing a flip and landing on a ruined building.

Several of the assassin drones had activated rocket thrusters in their feet, and were flying after Tommy, blasting at him the whole way.

Tommy sprinted, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and continually swerved around to avoid being fried. Occasionally he would hurl a batarang out behind him and strike a drone, but this did little more than slow them down by a couple seconds.

Two more drones came around in front of Tommy. He immediately ceased running and jumped downward, crashing through an old skylight. He landed in the top floor of a building and grappled out the window, flying out underneath the drones. He tossed two baterangs up at them as he sailed under them, and with perfect precision slashed their necks.

The force caused them to whir around and blast each other. Tommy rolled through into the next building and ducked behind an old rotting desk. For a moment, he thought he was safe, until a cold metallic hand shot up through the floor and grabbed his ankle! It ripped Tommy through the decaying floor, and threw him straight through a wall! The entire building began to collapse. Tommy made a break for it and smashed through a small window, falling into the streets as the building crumbled behind him. He landed forcefully on a dumpster, denting the lid.

"Ah!" Tommy screamed, almost certain the fall had cracked a few ribs. He was lucky that was all it had done. He rolled off the dumpster and heard the sound of more thrusters nearing him. "Seriously…?" He huffed. He stood up with no where to go, and angrily struck the wall behind him. Chunks of brick began to crumble away from his strike, and he saw an image behind the brick wall… a dark image, with some sort of line visible.

"What the hell?" Tommy took out a batarang and quickly began hacking away at the brick, which luckily came off with ease. Behind it was steel elevator door, with a bat symbol painted on.

The sound of the thrusters was getting louder. The drones were almost there. "Guess this is my best shot." Tommy pried open the door, and walked into the dark elevator, the door closing behind him.

A faint light bulb flickered to life. The elevator had no buttons or anything, it was just a large steel box. Then scanner of some sort scanned over Tommy's body.

**"Subject: Recognized. Name: Unavailable. Authorization: Permitted. Beginning descent." **An automated voice announced. Suddenly the elevator plummeted downward at unbelievable speed, throwing Tommy up against the cold steel ceiling. The moment the elevator came to a stop, he fell but managed to land on his feet. The doors opened slowly, and Tommy stepped out into complete darkness.

"Great. Now I'm lost and blind."

**(Mt. Justice – Justice Cave)**

"What were you thinking?" Dinah shouted.

"That it would be fun. Which it was. Until Tommy drove out the ceiling anyway." Allie slumped down in the chair. "Ok, so I wasn't thinking very much."

"You know how volatile Tommy can be! You honestly didn't think that he would pull a stunt like this?"

"Nope."

"Well he did, and now you have not only compromised his safety, but ours as well. Tommy could lead Apokolips right to us!"

"Want me and Q to looking for him? I doubt he got far." Allie suggested.

"No, we aren't digging this hole any deeper. Tommy made his choice, and now he's on his own." Dinah shook her head and turned away.

"Are you kidding me? So you're just going to stand around while he might be getting killed right now?" Allie stood up, suddenly angry.

"Well what else can we do, Allie? It wouldn't do Tommy any good for us to go out and get ourselves killed too."

"So you're just going to give up?" There was silence, and finally turned away, storming off toward her room. "You know, Tommy was right mom. You are a coward."

Dinah breathed a heavy sigh and walked off toward her room too.

"It was partly my fault." Quinton stated. Dinah jumped, because she hadn't even realized that he was in the room.

"What…? Sorry Q, I wasn't really listening."

"It was stupid of me to help out with Allie's plan. I'm supposed to be the smart one, I should have known better."

"It isn't you're fault Q. If anything, it's mine."

"How so?"

"Something Tommy said… he's never even seen the sun." Dinah shook her head. "I kept you all so sheltered because I didn't see any other alternative… I still don't, to tell you the truth. But this life might not have been the best solution."

"I'm ok with it."

"Q, I can't see things turning out well from here."

"I know. If Tommy comes back here, there's very little chance that he won't be followed. He could lead an entire army to us. And if he just gets caught… I've read enough books on Apokolips to know that they won't just kill him. They'll get him to spill everything first."

"Yeah. Quinton…" Dinah looked at him, a very serious glare in her eyes. "If anything happens… you're in charge."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'll do whatever I have to." Dinah then disappeared into her room.

**(Ruins of Gotham City – Lower East Side)**

Jesse West walked the streets carefully, keeping an eye out for any sign of the secret police. He could outrun a few of them, no problem. But once they started grouping up on him, there was no escape.

He preferred to stay out of cities, but he was hungry. Finally, he spotted a delivery truck headed an orphanage. Just what he had been looking for. Trucks occasionally brought food the orphanages. Only just enough food to keep the children alive, nothing more and sometimes less.

He zoomed over to the truck faster than the eye could see, and rammed a chunk of broken glass into the front tire. Soon the truck came to a halt, and the Apokoliptian delivery guy stepped out. Jesse was already gone. The guy began examining the tire, and while he was finding the problem, Jesse sprinted into the back and got all the disgusting looking, tasteless slop he could jam into his pockets. Then in a blur, he was back outside. He shot the delivery guy a smart-alicky glance and said, "Flat tires suck, don't they?" And continued on his way.

Then he heard a noise behind him, and turned to see a secret police agent behind him.

"Hey buddy, what's the big deal? I got my ID right here." Jesse pulled down his sleeve, revealing a thick black identification tattoo.

The police drone converted its arm into a blade, and slashed one of the pockets on Jesse's silk sports jacket. Chunks of the stolen orphanage food plopped onto the ground. "Oh, that…" Jesse took a step back. "Funny story, you see-" Jesse grabbed the drone's throat and sent a powerful vibration through his hand, destroying the circuitry in the drone's head. It fell to the ground smoking. Jesse could already here more on their way.

"Figures." Jesse brushed back his spiky red hair and then broke into a super-fast sprint, headed toward his sanctuary.

Within seconds he had reached a cliff side on the other end of the city. He pulled away a fake rock and climbed into the entrance, sliding the boulder back into place. Then he flashed down the dark tunnel and exited out into the cave he had discovered years ago. He flicked a light on and prepared to relax, when he heard footsteps approaching…

**(Beneath Gotham City – Abandoned Batcave)**

A light miraculously came on, illumination the cave. "Where in the hell am I?" Tommy looked around at the many walkways all over the cave. Then there was a swift wind, and he was struck down by a multicolored blur.

"Ah!" Tommy grabbed the blur as he fell, and whipped it onto the ground with him. He and another boy collided onto the concrete. The other boy was on his feet first, but Tommy kicked his kneecaps and put him on the ground again.

Tommy then grabbed the boy by the collar and rammed against a wall, holding his knife against the guy's throat. "Who are you?" He demanded.

"Chill out man!" The red-haired guy pleaded. His hair was spiked back, and his eyes were a bright, energetic blue. He was extremely thin, but had long legs built for running. He wore a silk red and yellow sports jacket over a pair of blue jeans.

"What is this place? Who are you? Why did you attack me? Answers, now!" Tommy barked.

"Well put the freakin' knife away and I might be a little more cooperative!"

"Fine." Tommy slid the knife into it's holster and took a step back. "Now, answer me."

"Ok, good." The red haired boy seemed to size Tommy up. "You don't seem to be have any Apokoliptian training. If you did you never would have put the knife away. But you don't have any ID tattoos, so you aren't a citizen either. What exactly are you?"

"I asked you first."

"Look dude, you should be answering to me. I live here."

"Small world." Tommy muttered, knowing he had spent his entire life living in a cave.

"The name's Jesse West." Jesse extended his hand.

"I don't shake hands." Tommy refused, staying completely still.

"Ok, then. Mind telling me your name?"

"Tommy Gray."

"Alright, then we've already knocked off the 'who' question. How'd you get down here?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"The elevator." Tommy nodded toward the wall.

"Really? Huh, I've never been able to use that thing. It says I'm not recognized in it's memory or some crap like that. How'd you find it?"

"I was running from the secret police." Tommy shrugged.

"I like you already." Jesse grinned.

"It's not mutual. I don't really like people."

"I can tell." Jesse turned and plopped down on an old filthy couch. "So where'd you come from? Before you were running from the cops, I mean."

"Nowhere important. What is this place?"

"It used to be the Batcave. You know, before the invasion. Then I found this secret entrance one day, and well, it's been my home for a couple years."

"You live here alone?"

"Well…" Jesse's face darkened. "I had a sister."

"Had?"

"She died."

"Oh." Tommy didn't ask anymore questions, but he got a feeling that her death was somehow Jesse's fault. "So how do you survive on your own here?"

"I steal everything I need. I'm a master thief, not to mention one hell of a con artist. It's my passion."

"Interesting. So, do you mind if I crash here for the night? I think I busted some ribs, I need to rest up."

"Sure thing bro. My casa, something in Spanish, you're casa."

"So… that's a yes?"

"Yeah, dude. It is. Hey, I should warn you about something though."

"About what?"

"Me. Don't expect to walk out of here with all of your possessions. Like I said, thievery is my passion."

"I'll watch for that." Tommy headed over to the other side of the cave. By now he had caught on that Jesse must have been Wally West's (The Flash's) son. That was the second new league kid he had met that day. He wondered how many more there were, running around the globe fending for their lives.

He laid down thinking about this, and began to doze off. No sooner than Tommy had fallen asleep, he was woken up by a violent rumbling, like an Earthquake.

"What the…?" Tommy sat up, and was immediately grabbed by Jesse.

"Take him!" Jesse yelled, and shoved Tommy right in front of a squad of parademons. Jesse sprinted off toward the door in a blur.

"Thanks a lot West." Tommy grumbled, reaching for his knife. He was shocked to find that it was gone. "My knife? Where's my- uh! Jesse!" He realized.

Laser fire immediately lit up the cave. Tommy ducked behind a pedestal and shot a grapple up into the rafters, and pulled into the shadows, throwing baterangs down and killing parademons consistently. Soon they were flying up after him. Tommy drew his battle pole and began beating them away with it, but each hit only did minimal damage, and he was barely managing to keep them at bay. He smashed a smoke pellet onto the floor and was immediately swallowed up in the haze.

When the smoke cleared, Tommy was gone.

Near the secret exit to the cave, Jesse moved in a super-fast blur, determined to get out. Suddenly a shadow crossed over him, and then he was tackled by Tommy! The two smashed into the ground.

"Uh… good timing, Tom." Jesse smiled innocently. "Look, dude, about trying to sacrifice you to the parademons back there-"

"Shut up!" Tommy punched Jesse in the nose, drawing blood.

"What the hell?" Jesse clenched his bleeding nose. "Dude I know you're pissed but-" Tommy punched him in the jaw this time.

"My knife! Give me my damn knife!" Tommy demanded.

"Alright, alright, here! Geez!" Jesse handed Tommy the blade. "I thought I'd sell it on the streets, you know? Make a quick buck. Then I'd steal it back later and sell it again. It's a cash cow if you-"

"I said shut – up!" Tommy clenched his fist.

"Ok, shutting up now."

Suddenly a javelin stuck into the wall next to Tommy's head!

"You didn't kill the parademons?" Jesse looked shocked.

"No! Because you took my knife and bailed on me!"

"Oh, so now I'm the bad guy here?" Jesse looked offended.

Parademons began to surround them. Some started to come in through Jesse's secret entrance.

"How did they find us here?" Jesse yelled.

Tommy noticed something blinking on Jesse's back. "Jesse, where'd you get that jacket?"

"Stole it this morning. Why?"

"There's a tracking device on it dumb ass!"

"Oh, oops." Jesse glanced at Tommy nervously. "I guess I screwed up, huh?"

"I can't say I'm surprised."

"You know, that's why I tried to sacrifice you! You're just plain mean!"

Jesse ducked to avoid a blast, and soon all of the parademons were attacking. Tommy took the battle pole in one hand, and the knife in the other. "Jesse, you take my battle pole and-" He realized Jesse was no longer next to him. "And you bailed on me again."

He began attacking the horde of parademons viciously, using every fighting technique Black Canary had ever taught him. He mowed down about thirty of them before a laser burned into his shoulder. "Damn it!" He screamed, dropping the pole. He spun around and plunged the knife into the shooter's head.

More and more parademons were spilling into the room by the second. He was getting nowhere. Then there was a thundering noise, like thousands of engines starting at once. And then machine gun fire ripped out into the horde of parademons!

The parademons began dropping like flies, being pulverized by bullets. Hundreds of sleek black robots descended into the parademon army, all modeled after Batman! They started annihilating the parademons.

"Where did they come from?" Tommy muttered.

"You didn't really think I ditched you again, did you bro?" Jesse's voice said. Suddenly Jesse was right behind Tommy again.

"You have to stop calling me that. I'm not your 'bro,' alright? I don't even _like _you."

"I thought you didn't like anybody?"

"I don't really, but you're the worst."

"Good to know. Now come on, I'm getting us out of here."

Jesse took off, running only slightly above human speed so that Tommy could follow behind him.

"What were those Batman robots?"

"During the invasion, Batman created them to combat Darkseid's armies, but only he knew the activation code, and he was killed in battle before he could activate them."

"So how did you get the code?"

"Many, many years of guessing at it."

Soon they reached a gate that lead into the Gotham sewer system.

"Seriously? We're escaping through the sewers?"

"You got a better idea?"

"Guess not." The two pried open the gate together and then sprinted into the old sewer system, immediately greeted by the stench. Once they had made it far enough that the battle could no longer be heard behind them, Tommy asked, "So where are we going?"

"I was hoping you had an idea." Jesse shrugged.

"Hmm. Could this sewer system take us to Mt. Justice?"

"That's pretty far away dude. But it could definitely get us close. Out of the city, for sure. We'll be safer once we're away from the city."

"Lets get moving then. You know the way?"

"Please, I know these sewers like the back of my hand."

They walked a bit further before coming to a huge drop off. The smell of oil lingered into Tommy's nose. "Oil?"

"Yeah, we're below the old gasworks now. A lot of the pipes from there ran along the sewers, and now they've completely rusted away, spilled like a thousand gallons of oil into the sewer water down there."

"The gasworks?"

"Yeah, why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"

"Jesse, the gasworks on the north end of Gotham! Mt. Justice is south of Gotham!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes! I used to get bored in the Justice Cave and look at old maps. We've been going the completely wrong way, you idiot!" Tommy looked at Jesse with murder in his eyes.

"Ooh… you know now that you mention it, I think you're right." Jesse started liking around. "Yeah, I must have been picturing a different mountain."

"Oh my God! Can't you do anything right?"

"Calm down. I know a shortcut."

"If it's your shortcut, we'll probably wind up in China!"

"You are mean to me, you know that Gray?"

Suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard down the hall, and three looming parademon shadows became visible.

"Why not?" Tommy grumbled. He looked up at some old pipes on the ceiling, and immediately climbed up on to them, climbing as high as he could get. He would be out of eyesight from the Parademons.

"What are you hiding for Tommy? There are only three of them, we can take them!"

"This water is filled with oil. They have lasers. You do the math."

"Oh… I see you're point." Jesse nodded. "We don't want lasers and oil mixing." He climbed up after Tommy.

Soon the parademons were in the area, looking around for Tommy and Jesse, who were hanging off the ceiling.

Tommy looked over and saw that Jesse's nose was beginning to bleed again!

"Oh no…" Jesse muttered, doing his best to not let the blood drip.

"Great. First you get us lost, now you're going to get us killed!" Tommy whispered angrily.

"Well I wouldn't be bleeding if you hadn't punched me!"

"I wouldn't have punched you if you hadn't been such a stupid ass!"

Jesse couldn't stop it any longer, and a glob of blood dripped down, landing right on a parademon's nose. He looked up, and was immediately kicked in the face by a falling Tommy! Jesse came down behind the other two kicked out their legs.

"Go! Go! Go!" Tommy ordered, and they began sprinting. More parademons arrived, drawn by the commotion.

Then, on the other end of the tunnel, four Batman robots appeared! They automatically began firing their machine guns at the parademons, who responded by firing their lasers. And Tommy and Jesse were right in the middle of it.

Tommy shot a grapple upward and pulled himself out of the gunfight, with Jesse dangling off of his legs. "Stop it!" He was screaming to the Batman drones, but the gunfire continued.

Then a parademon's javelin soared through and sliced Tommy's grapple line. Instantly, Tommy and Jesse began to plummet back into the line of fire.

And as they fell, something finally sparked the oil in the water. There was a massive explosion, and a raging fire engulfed the tunnel…


	3. Death

Chapter Three: Death Strikes Hard

"Lord Darkseid." Desaad acknowledged.

"I trust that you bring more news?"

"Yes, my lord. We recovered this footage from a destroyed Scouter Drone." Desaad held up a small device and activated it, creating a holographic image before them. The image showed a teenager's foot smashing into the drone, damaging the eye. After that the picture kept cutting out, but they could occasionally see glimpses of the teenager destroying Secret Police.

"He got away?" Darkseid's tone made it much more of a statement than a question.

"Unfortunately yes my lord. The boy escaped with fugitive Jesse West, whom we believe to be the son of The Flash." Desaad reported uncomfortably.

"Interesting." Darkseid sounded more amused than angered, which surprised his advisor.

"We don't know who the dark haired boy is, my lord, but we have teams working on it as we speak and-"

"I know who he is." Darkseid interrupted.

"Wh- who my lord?" Desaad was shocked.

"He… is our first potential threat in years. The uprising of Ricochet has been an annoying happenstance. The presence of Jesse West has been a meaningless coincidence. But this upstart, he is an enemy. And the fact that he has allied himself with the son of the speedster proves that he is forming alliances. And an alliance by the enemy, is considered enemy action."

"So what do you propose we do, Lord Darkseid?"

"Enemies of Apokolips cannot stand. We have already proven that, now we must maintain the reputation. Send Deathstroke. Tell him to kill anyone in sight."

**(Sewers – Burning Area after the Explosion)**

"Uh…" Tommy sat up slowly, covered in soot. Jesse sat up a few feet away from him, groaning. They were sitting on top of chunks of debris, surrounded by fire.

"How'd we survive that?" Tommy coughed out.

"While we were falling, I put up a vibrational field around us that protected us from the majority of the blast." Jesse explained.

"Finally you did something right." Tommy groaned, getting to his feet. He immediately fell back down and caught himself on his hands and knees. He realized his left leg had been burned. Not badly, but enough that he didn't want to walk.

"Come on." Jesse extended his hand to help Tommy up.

"Why are you helping me all the sudden?"

"I screwed up and almost got you killed twice. I figure I owe you two life-saves now. That explosion was the first one. This is the second. Now take my hand already."

Jesse helped Tommy to his feet and slug Tommy's arm over his shoulders to help him walk.

"Hope your not expecting a thank you."

"From you? Hell no! So where was it you wanted to go again?"

"Mt. Justice. Not really where I want to go… but it's the best place right now."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen as of today. Or maybe yesterday, depending on what time it is."

"I'm turning sixteen in a week or so."

"I don't care."

**(Same Area – An hour Later)**

Deathstroke the Terminator walked into the tunnel and looked around at the flame from the explosion. After the invasion, he had been made the head of Apokolip's Tracking Corps. His job was to hunt down fugitives and slay them, and he never failed in his job.

An army of parademons and battle drones followed him. "They went that way." Deathstroke pointed down a tunnel. "They left clumps of soot behind them as they walked down that tunnel. An idiot mistake."

"Shall we pursue them, Master?" A drone asked.

"No, not yet. We'll just hang back and follow their trail without being noticed. They are going somewhere that they think is safe, which means there might be others, who think it is safe. I bet they'll lead us right into a nest."

**(Outside the underground Justice Cave Entrance – Several hours later)**

Tommy and Jesse finally reached the door into the Justice Cave.

"Told you I had a shortcut." Jesse grinned.

"And now we're even, right?"

"Not quite."

"Huh?"

"Well, remember how I was being hospitable and allowed you to rest in my cave? I think you owe me now… I should be able to sleep in your cave for the night."

"I disagree."

"So you really want to go back to the same old, same old? Dude, I can get you out in the open."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well face it Gray, I've survived for sixteen years on the streets. You didn't last an hour. If you're ever going to go anywhere but this cave, you need me."

Tommy was silent for a long moment. "Well, do we have a deal or not Tommy?" Jesse pushed on.

"Fine. You can stay for one night."

"Sweet."

"This was your plan the whole time wasn't it? The only reason you helped me get here was to con me into letting you stay."

"Well I need a place to sleep, don't I?" Jesse replied slyly.

Tommy ignored him and pressed the buzzer next to the door. Nothing. He pressed it again.

"Who is it…?" Allie's startled voice came through.

"Tommy. Let me in."

"Hold on!" Quinton's voice broke in. "How do we know it's really you?"

"Quinton let me in or I'll bust the door and shove my foot so far up your ass it'll come out your mouth." Tommy threatened.

"Yup, it's Tommy." Quinton concluded.

"Alright, I'll let you in, hold on." Allie's voice said, and then the speaker turned off.

Tommy shot the Jesse a glance and said, "Hey Jesse, do me a favor will you?"

"What do you need?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Just step right in front of me here."

"Uh, ok, sure." Jesse shrugged and stepped in front of Tommy.

The door opened, and immediately Allie's fist flew out, meeting Jesse's face! Jesse screamed and fell the ground.

"Thanks Jesse." Tommy grinned. In response, Jesse flipped him off.

"Oh, uh… sorry." Allie said apologetically to the speedster. "That punch was met for Tommy."

"God… feels like I got hit by a damn truck. This chick hits harder than you do Tommy." Jesse got to his feet, and when he saw Allie, his eyes widened. "Whoa."

"You'll have to excuse my acquaintance here, he's an asshole. He'll be staying with us for the night." Tommy said, pushing passed Allie.

"What were you thinking running off like that Tommy?" She yelled.

"Sorry mother."

"I'm serious Tommy! Do you have any idea how pissed my mom is?"

Tommy ignored her and walked off toward his room, behind sure to elbow Quinton along the way.

"Huh… so you're Tommy's stray asshole?" Allie grinned, helping Jesse to his feet.

"Yup. That's me." Jesse laughed. "I brought him home safely, like any good Samaritan would."

"You ok? I hit you pretty hard?" She sighed.

"It's alright. I've never been hit by an angel, until today." Jesse said smoothly.

"Dude, keep that up, and the next punch _will _be for you." Allie smiled and walked off.

"Message received." Jesse muttered. Then he looked to Quinton, who was standing there with his hands in his pockets, staring at him blankly. Quinton wore a pair of orange-tinted Aviators that made his eyes impossible to locate. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Just a watching eye." Quinton said vaguely, showing no sign of any emotion at all.

"Ok… so you mind showing me around here? Looks like a big place and-" Jesse looked back and saw that Quinton was already gone. "Whoa, that's creepy."

Tommy headed for his room; he used the Martian Manhunter's old room because there wasn't much of anything in it. But as he opened up his door, he was stopped by Dinah/

"Tommy! Hold it!" She demanded.

"What do you want?"

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Dinah grabbed him by the shoulder and whipped him around. "You should know better! How could you be so stupid?"

"Look, can we talk about this later please? I'm tired."

"Drop the attitude and listen to me! You're lucky to be alive!"

"Actually, in the time I was gone… it was the first time I've really been alive, Dinah. I wouldn't expect you to understand, but I do expect to just stay out of my business, ok?"

"You _will _show me respect." Dinah demanded.

"You've done nothing to earn it." Tommy's eyes narrowed. "All you've ever done is hide me, and I'm supposed to respect you for it?"

"I did it for you own good Tommy."

"Well maybe you should stop trying to decide what's bet for me, because you don't have a damn clue!"

"Tommy I promise that in this case, I know better than you do." Dinah tried to keep calm, not wanting to feed Tommy an argument, like he wanted her to. "There are things that you don't understand, that you _can't _understand, and-"

"And that's not for you to decide!" Tommy interrupted. "You're not my mother ok? So quit pretending to be!" He stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him.

Dinah let out a deep sigh and pressed her head against the wall. Jesse walked in behind her, and grinned. "Holy crap… like mother, like daughter I guess." He said quietly, walking toward her.

"You must be Jesse." Dinah turned around and did her best to put on a happy face.

"That I am. How'd you know about me?"

"Quinton told me."

"Is he the freaky dude with the orange shades?"

"Yup."

"He's not going to like, kill me in my sleep, is he?"

"No, probably not." Dinah laughed. "So, you're Wally's kid?"

"Wally? Um… I'm pretty sure that was his name. I don't remember my dad all that much. I just remember that suit… the bright red suit, he called it his 'jogging clothes.'" Jesse recalled.

"That's all you remember though?" Dinah asked.

"Well, yes and no. I remember both my parents, but I don't really remember details." A dark shadow crossed over his face and for a moment, Jesse looked a hundred years old. But he quickly reverted back to his young cocksure self. "What'd you know my dad or something?"

"Yeah." Dinah grinned, already suspecting that Jesse was hiding some sort of secret, but she said nothing about it. "Allie! Come here!"

"What?" Allie walked in with her hands in her pockets, wearing a loose white t-shirt and blue jeans. She brushed a strand of her golden blonde hair out of her face and popped her gum.

"Hello beautiful." Jesse said loudly, and was completely ignored.

"Can you give Jesse here a tour of the place?" Dinah asked.

"I don't plan on staying here more than a night or so." Jesse pointed out. "Although, there are certain things here I could definitely get used to." He glanced at Allie, and she rolled her eyes.

"Well regardless, I think that as a League kid, you have the right to a tour." Dinah acknowledged. "Allie, you should get going."

"Alright mom." Allie wasn't really interested in playing tour guide, but she was excited for something to do. "Come on Jesse."

"Sure thing sweetheart." Jesse followed after her, already on the lookout for things he could steal.

**(New Metropolis – Scouter Drone Relay Station)**

Hundreds of thousands of Scouter Drones, floating camera-orbs, constantly patrol Earth. And they are constantly relaying information back and forth to different stations, or to Apokolips itself.

In New Metropolis stood one of these Relay Stations feeding data directly to Apokolips. Ricochet dropped onto the roof of this relay station and quickly took out a guard from behind. He then headed for a fire escape, through which he sneak into the building.

Obviously Ricochet had been caught when he infiltrated SANCTION, and had barely escaped. He knew that if his sister had been there, she had been moved now. And if she had been transferred to another orphanage, there had to be some sort of documentation of it going to Granny Goodness on Apokolips.

And that meant one thing to Ricochet. That documentation would be going through a relay station and to Apokolips. So if he could break into the relay station and hack the system, he could find out exactly where his sister had been moved to.

He crawled through the fire escape and soon he was inside the building. Now for the hard part… not getting caught. He had managed to get his hands on a map of the facility, and new that he had to get to the Data Management Center, located in the middle of the complex.

Using the device on his wrist, Ricochet released a powerful EMP pulse, disrupting the cameras around him.

"That won't last long… I've got to move fast." Ricochet created a positive magnetic field around himself, before charging his own body with another positive charge. This caused Ricochet's own body to repel itself, just as he had planned. He soared down the hall almost too fast for the eye to see, his body repelling away from the very field around it, launching him through the air at unbelievable speeds! The difficult part was steering.

Ricochet continually crashed into walls around him, having very little control over his flight path. He prayed that he didn't run into any guards. He had chosen a time when the guard shift was changing, so hopefully he could get through all the hallways before the new guards rotated in.

He reached the room he was looking for just as two parademons entered into the hallway. Ricochet slammed the door behind him, hoping that he hadn't been seen. He canceled the magnetism and regained control of himself before walking over to the holographic control large white room. The center of room contained a giant glowing orb, which housed records of all of the information that passed through the station.

Ricochet tried using the control panel, but it did nothing to respond to him. **"Identification Required." **An automated voice announced.

"Crap." Ricochet sighed, and then remembered the keycard he had stolen from a parademon when he broke into SANCTION. He still had the keycard on him, and hoped that it would work. He ran the keycard through the holographic scanner. **"Identification Accepted. Access Granted." **The voice announced.

"Perfect." Ricochet smirked behind his mask and began searching through recent data entries, trying to uncover news about a prisoner transfer from SANCTION. "This'll go a lot faster if I hack into Granny Goodness's personal channel and see what info went directly to her." Ricochet realized. "Just hope I can get into the old hag's channel." He began working at trying to access Granny Goodness's direct network, but after several minutes of trying, found that it was a lot harder than he thought.

He did however manage to find a file on himself. Apparently a message had gone out to all of Apokolips that he was to be killed. Ricochet was flattered. But he also saw that he wasn't the only alert issued recently.

"Maybe she escaped or something…?" The fleeting hope jumped into his mind, even though he had absolutely no reason to think that the alert could be his sister other than that he really wanted it to be. He went to see what the other alert was, and was disappointed by the results.

He saw a video of a pissed off teenager kicking a Scouter Drone. As he read on, he found info about Jesse West, and for some reason Darkseid himself had announced that the dark haired kid was dangerous.

"Whoa… if this kid has Darkseid's attention, there must be something special about him." Ricochet realized. He read further and found that Deathstroke had been assigned to track him and Jesse West. "This could be good for me. If I can put together a team, maybe I have a chance…"

Before Ricochet could even complete his thought, the door behind him began to open. "Time to bail!" Ricochet touched his hand to a wall and gave it a negative charge, before sending another one through his hand. The resulting magnetic repulsion blasted a hole straight through the wall, and Ricochet leapt out into the open air.

By the time guard's had entered into the room, he was already gone.

**(Mt. Justice – Justice Cave – Cafeteria)**

"And this is the cafeteria. We don't usually eat in here, but there's plenty of food stored and-" Allie looked over her shoulder to see that Jesse was already gone. "Huh? Jesse, where'd you go?" She called.

"Ova' hur." A muffled voice yelled back, and Allie looked into the storage room to Jesse stuffing his mouth full of a sandwich, which he had filled with unspeakable amounts of foods that really do not belong in sandwiches.

"Uh… hungry much?" Allie gaped.

Jesse swallowed down a clump of food and said, "Super speed equals a super high metabolism. I burn calories about a hundred times faster than a normal person does, so I have to eat way more than normal people do."

"Oh." Allie realized that was why Jesse was so skinny. "I thought you were just anorexic or something."

"Nah, I'm more of a bulimic. I binge eat. Except I binge like, twenty times a day." He laughed.

"Well hurry up, I want to get this tour done with." Allie said, and suddenly Jesse was standing uncomfortably close to her.

"You're telling a guy with super speed to hurry up? That's almost offensive to me, Allie." He joked.

"Come on." She laughed, turning to leave the cafeteria. "Oh, and Jesse…"

"Yeah?"

"Give me my watch back."

"Sorry." Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out Allie's golden watch, handing it to her reluctantly. "Force of habit."

"So you're a bulimic, and a kleptomaniac. I'm _so _glad Tommy brought you here." Allie shook her head, but couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her lips.

"Wow, I like you way better than that Tommy guy." Jesse smiled too, following her out the door.

"Tommy's ok." Allie shrugged. "You just have to get to know him."

"I think I'd rather get to know a brain tumor before I hung out with Tommy. Just being near the guy makes you grumpy and depressed." Jesse shook his head.

"Like I told Q, Tommy just feels things differently then we do. He wants to feel like he has a purpose in life, and right now, he doesn't. Feeling completely worthless would make anybody grumpy and depressed." Allie defended. "But Tommy's like a brother to me. And out of the three people I actually know, he's my best friend."

"Whatever." Jesse shrugged as they walked through the library, paying absolutely no attention to anything in the room. "So what about that Quinton guy? What's his deal?"

"Q… he's definitely unique." Allie laughed. "For lack of a better word, he's a freak. But he's like my brother too, and I love him."

"And what was that thing your mom called me earlier… a League kid? What's that supposed to mean?"

"League kid is just the term we use to describe somebody who had one or more parents in the Justice League. You know about them, right?"

"Think so. I'm pretty sure I stole an old newspaper clipping about them once. They were like, a bunch of superheroes right?"

"Yeah."

"And… my dad… he was one of them?"

"Exactly. Wally West was The Flash. Or at least, one of them."

"One of them?"

"Yeah, I think there were four different people to go by that name. The first was Jay Garrick, he died even before the invasion. Then there was Barry Allen, he was like a police scientist or whatever. And then it was your dad, Wally West. He started out as Kid Flash, Barry's sidekick, but took over the mantel when Barry died. And the fourth was Bart Allen, he took over during the invasion, but he didn't last all that long."

"Wow. Wally, my dad, how'd he die?"

"I know he died sometime during the invasion, but I'm not exactly sure how. You should ask Q, he knows everything about this stuff. Or my mom, she was probably there."

"No, never mind. It's not important. I just…" Jesse's voice cracked.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I was curious, that's all."

"Um, alright." Allie shrugged. She got the impression that Jesse was only telling her part of the truth, but she didn't say anything about it.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before they reached the area where the heroes old rooms were.

"This is where the Justice League slept?" Jesse asked, though the tone in his voice made it clear that he really didn't care.

"Yeah. I sleep in my dad's old room, Green Arrow's. And Tommy, he uses the Martian Manhunters room, because it's really private. And-"

"Oh sweet!" Jesse's voice cut in. Allie looked over and saw Jesse was standing outside the door of The Flash's old room, running his hand down the lightning bolt engraved in the door.

"Yeah, that room first belonged to the Flash, and-"

"And now it's mine." Jesse interrupted again. He pulled open the door excitedly, but then frowned when he saw the inside. The floor was covered with books and old scribblings. And Quinton was pacing back and forth in the room, his hands in his pockets. Quinton used Flash's old room because it was so spacious, and it gave Q plenty of room to pace, an old habit of his. Plus, though Quinton wouldn't admit it, he was extremely claustrophobic.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing in my room, poser?" Jesse screamed.

"You're room?" Quinton raised an eyebrow behind his orange tinted sunglasses.

"Yeah, my room! Are you frickin' deaf? Get out!"

"No."

"You're asking for it now." Jesse zoomed into the room and shoved Quinton out the door. "And take your shit!" Jesse started whipping books out the door.

Quinton picked up the copy of _The Cricket on the Hearth _that Jesse had thrown. "Disrespecting me in one thing, but now you've disrespected Charles Dickens, and that pisses me off!" Quinton shouted. He grabbed Jesse by the shirt collar and slammed him face-first into a wall.

"Big mistake, freak." Jesse jabbed his elbow back and caught Quinton in the ribs, causing him to loosen his grip. Jesse then punched Quinton back out into the hall and ran at him.

Quinton flung up his legs and kicked Jesse in the knees, knocking him down painfully. Jesse rolled to his feet and was met with a punch to the Adam's Apple by Quinton.

"A- ass – hole." He choked. Jesse hit Quinton multiple times at super speed and then flung him down. Quinton kicked out Jesse's legs, picked him up and smacked into a wall again.

**(Tommy's Room)**

"I lasted about twenty minutes on the outside before my first near-death experience. I was saved by a girl named Flo, who I'm ninety-nine percent sure is insane. Then I stumbled across the Batcave and ran into Jesse West, the biggest idiot of all time. And in the end, I'm stuck right back here in this stupid cave. Dinah just doesn't understand. Nobody does. I can't take it here any longer. But I'm clearly not a pro outside the cave. So I don't know what to do. Maybe I should just stop caring about it, like I did pretty much everything else. I don't know what to do anymore. This is Tommy Gray, logging out on October 16th, 11:45 p.m." Tommy turned off the video journal and slid it back into his pocket.

He tried to add a new journal entry every day, but even he wasn't quite sure why. They were all pretty much the same. There were a series of loud crashes outside, interrupting Tommy's thoughts. "Ah! What now?" He walked irritably toward the door and practically ripped it open.

He saw Allie in the hall, and then he saw Jesse and Quinton beating the crap out of each other a few feet away.

"What's going on out here?"

"That stray jackass you brought home just disrespected Charles Dickens."

"I have no idea what that means." Tommy walked over to the fight and pried them apart. He then punched Jesse in the side of the head, and Quinton right in the jaw. "There. Now you're even, so shut the hell up."

"He started it." Jesse whined, rubbing the side of his head with one hand and pointing at Quinton with the other.

"Me? You're the one who barged into my room and started throwing crap!" Quinton protested.

"It's rightfully _my _room," Jesse pointed to himself with his thumb, "And I don't appreciate you polluting it with Charles Dickhead!"

"Charles Dickens!"

"I know what I said!"

The two began to fight again, and Tommy shoved them both to the floor. "Either shut up, or take it somewhere else." Tommy demanded, before turning and heading back for his room.

"That has got to be the most immature thing I have ever seen." Allie groaned.

"The lady's right, Q." Jesse stated. "So I'm going to be the man here, and let you have the room so that you don't throw another tantrum, ok?"

"Whatever." Quinton stormed back into the room and locked the door behind him.

"So…" Jesse zoomed over to Allie. "Since I have to change my sleeping arrangements, I'd like to request a bunk under you."

"In you're dreams, West." Allie laughed and began to walk away.

"What? No bunks? We can just sleep in the same bed then!" Jesse yelled.

"What?" Dinah's voice cut from behind. Jesse turned to see Dinah staring at him.

"Oh, um… nothing." Jesse said uncomfortably.

"Jesse, why don't you just sleep on the couch?"

Suddenly there was a massive rumbling, and the entire cave shook.

"What is it now?" Tommy burst out of his room angrily.

"Dude, that was not me." Jesse held up his hands in defense.

There was another violent surge, and things began to fall down all over.

"Earthquake?" Allie suggested.

"On a mountain in October? Not likely." Quinton said, stepping back out into the hallway.

Once the tremor stopped, everyone headed out into the lobby area, where there was one last quake. And then there was an explosion from the floor, and an Apokoliptian army began to march out, led by Deathstroke!

"What the…" Tommy stuttered.

"Everyone, hide. Now." Dinah commanded.

"Not my style." Tommy stepped forward with his knife drawn.

"You must be the brat Darkseid warned about. Huh, you sure don't look like much." Deathstroke said, completely, almost scarily calm. "And Black Canary, what a surprise. I thought you'd gone and died with the rest of the League. Green Arrow said you'd find a way to survive… right before I killed him."

"Go to hell." Dinah's eyes narrowed.

"Mom, who is this guy?" Allie asked.

"He was an assassin who the League clashed with quite a few times. He sided with Apokolips during the invasion, and was made head of their Tracking Corps."

"Yup, my dream job. I get to hunt down and slaughter anybody who pisses of Darkseid, and that is one long hit list." Deathstroke pulled an AK47 off of the sling on his back. "Kill them all!" He ordered his army of Parademons and Battle Drones.

A hail of bullets and laser fire immediately descended upon the group. They quickly overturned a heavy steel desk and took cover behind it.

"Where's Jesse?" Allie screamed, realizing he had disappeared.

"He probably took off again. Can't say I'm surprised." Tommy grumbled.

"Why aren't you freaking out? You do realize we're being shot at, right Tommy?" Allie screamed, shocked that he was so calm.

"It's not the first time today." He replied bluntly.

Suddenly there was the red and yellow blur of Jesse's sports jacket moving at super speed. Jesse slowed down and came into focus next to Tommy, holding a pillowcase.

"Where'd you go?" Allie asked.

"The armory upstairs. And I bring gifts." Jesse reached into the pillowcase and pulled out Green Arrow's bow, along with a quiver of arrows. He gave these items to Allie, then began fumbling in the pillowcase again, "Dinah, I know these weren't yours, but you could probably still use them." He handed Dinah two silver bracelets and a golden lasso, which had previously belonged to Wonder Woman.

"Thanks kid." Dinah said, sliding the bullet proof bracelets onto her wrists.

"Oh, and Tommy, I found something that works for you too." Jesse grinned. He reached into the bag and pulled out Wonder Woman's old costume.

"Hah-hah. That's very funny, especially considering we're in a life threatening situation here you idiot!" Tommy barked.

"I'm kidding, chill out man." Jesse pulled out Batman's utility belt. "_This _is for you."

Tommy eyed the belt disdainfully. "It's yellow. I hate yellow."

"Just put it on, will you? We're dealing with Darkseid's Tracking Corps, not the fashion police!" Jesse forced the belt into Tommy's hand.

"Don't I get anything?" Quinton asked from the other end of the desk.

"Hell no! If you die, I get the room!" Jesse reasoned.

"That is pathetic." Allie shot the speedster a glare.

Suddenly a javelin penetrated the desk, the blade sticking out right next to Tommy's head!

"We have to move." Tommy pulled two bat-grenades out of the utility belt and tossed them over the desk. There was a blast, and parademons shrieked. A large amount of the firing stopped for a moment. The group chose that moment to leap out and attack.

Allie immediately fired out a barrage of arrows, with pinpoint accuracy. She destroyed a drone or killed a parademon with each shot. At one point a group of drones got dangerously close to her. She released a sonic scream that blasted them apart. She got dizzy and stumbled after that, but was caught by Jesse.

"I got you beautiful." He said.

"Thanks. It takes a lot out of me to use my sonic scream."

"I can tell. You dropped like a rock after you did it." He grinned.

"Jesse, you can let go of me now."

"Right." He zoomed back into the fight, moving too fast for the eye to see, dropping parademons like flies. Jesse could land around a billion hits in a split second, pretty much turning them into pudding.

At one point a drone nearly impaled him with a wrist-blade, when an energy blast ripped out and blew its head off. Jesse turned to see Quinton holding a laser javelin that he had apparently stolen from a parademon.

"Whoa… thanks." Jesse huffed.

"I didn't do it to save you. I did it to test this baby out." Quinton said as he impaled another drone with the javelin.

There was another sonic scream, this one more powerful than Allie's, and several parademons exploded into globs of blood. Jesse looked to see Dinah, beating the crap out of Deathstroke's army.

"Wow, hot." Jesse uttered, and Allie elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Hey, what happened to Mr. Sunshine?" She asked, realizing that Tommy was nowhere in sight.

"Deathstroke is gone too." Quinton pointed out.

"Oh no."

In the cafeteria, Tommy swung around violently with his knife. He slashed the jugular on one parademon, and in the same motion drove the blade of his combat knife into a drone's head, destroying it.

"Impressive." Deathstroke clapped. "But the fact that you were dumb enough to follow me in here says something about your intellect… it's not much of one."

"You'd be surprised. I'm a lot smarter than I look." Tommy raised the knife.

"Forgive me if I don't believe you." Deathstroke dropped the AK47 and drew his Machete.

Deathstroke made the first move, slashing downward at Tommy. Tommy blocked with his knife and tried to punch Deathstroke in the stomach, but the assassin caught Tommy's wrist and twisted it violently.

Tommy gasped and lost his grip on the knife, allowing Deathstroke to continue his with the slash.

Tommy leapt back and the blade landed a non-fatal cut on his chest. Tommy's leather jacket began to soak with blood. Tommy reached into the utility belt and threw down a series of smoke pellets, immediately shrouding the area. Tommy then attempted to strike Deathstroke from behind, but the villain spun around and kicked Tommy in the stomach, sending him rolling.

"Nice try kid, but I have some of the best senses you'll ever witness. I don't need to see, to fight." Deathstroke plunged the machete.

Tommy rolled out the way and hurled an electric baterang into the villain's shoulder. Deathstroke screamed from the shock before ripping the device out of his shoulder, but by the time he recuperated enough to move Tommy punched him square in the face.

"You're good kid. You fight a bit more aggressively than your dad, but with the same precision and strategy. Yeah, you're real good."

"You knew my father?" Tommy's eyes widened.

"Yeah. I knew him pretty well." Deathstroke swung his blade again, and Tommy barely managed to dodge. The blade landed a deep cut on Tommy's cheek, and a stream of blood ran down the side of his face.

The two fought a while longer, and eventually Tommy tackled Deathstroke. They tumbled out the door and back into the lobby. Deathstroke flipped Tommy over and punched him in the head, before throwing him into a battle drone and pulling out an Uzi. He aimed for Tommy's head, and he barely had time to duck before bullets ripped into the drone behind him.

Tommy hurled a bolo from the utility belt, and it wound its way around Deathstroke's legs. By the time the assassin had cut himself free, Tommy was no longer in sight.

He made his way to Allie, who had just flash frozen a group of attackers with a cryogenic arrow.

"There are too many of them!" Allie shouted.

A drone attacked Tommy, but a blur came in and began pounding millions of dents into it. Soon, Jesse had pulverized the drone into a chunk of scrap metal. He backed away, his knuckles bloody.

"Ouch! Tommy, you ever punched a brick wall?"

"Lots of times."

"Well that was even worse." Jesse shook his hands, as if he were trying to shake of the pain.

"Here, take these." Tommy tossed him a pair of brass knuckles from his utility belt.

"Sweet." Jesse sprinted out and continued his super fast attack. Tommy began dropping opponents with batarangs, and Quinton continued fighting with his stolen javelin. But it was Dinah who was doing the most damage; she was tearing apart the army.

"I think we've killed about half of them now!" Quinton yelled.

"Half isn't enough." Tommy shook his head. "We can't keep this up much longer."

"Damn right you can't!" Deathstroke's voice called out, and suddenly a bullet bore into Tommy's shoulder.

"Ah!" Tommy cried, but refused to let himself scream. He fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder painfully.

"Oh boy, this brings me back to the good old days. You react to pain just like your father. As in, you barely react." Deathstroke raised stepped out into the open, a gun in his hand. "That really takes the entertainment value out of it. I'll find a way to make you scream, don't worry."

Allie shot an arrow at him, but Deathstroke simply caught it in mid air. "Darling, did you really expect that to-" Suddenly the tip of the arrow exploded into a boxing glove, blasting Deathstroke straight in the face.

"You were saying?" She smiled.

Deathstroke stood up slowly. "Enough of this." He pulled out a cylinder with a red button on the top, and pressed the button forcefully. Instantly, a series of bombs went off underneath the cave, and then massive tremors began. Chunks of rock began to fall.

"The whole cave's coming down!" Quinton shouted.

"Hold on!" Dinah opened up a hidden compartment in the wall and slammed a button. A part of the wall began to move, and a secret door opened up! Inside was an old model of a JLA Javelin Ship. It had four wings and still used propellers for power. The Justice League had abandoned this kind of ship early in their career, but apparently they still had one stashed away for emergencies.

"Is that a plane?" Jesse shouted.

"Yeah, use it to escape!" Dinah commanded. "Now!"

"But mom-" Allie started.

"It's only a four-seater! I'll stay! You have to go now!"

"But-"

"Go!"

Tommy, Allie, Quinton and Jesse headed toward the plane, and Quinton hopped into the cockpit.

"Does he even know how to fly a plane?" Jesse asked.

"I read a book on it once. Or, I skimmed through the pages at least." Quinton responded, and began screwing around with the control panel.

The others started fending off hordes of enemies trying to get into the room. More explosions took place, and the mountain started to literally crumble apart.

"Q! We really need you to hurry!" Tommy pleaded.

"I can't seem to get it started."

"He probably doesn't know how to get it started." Jesse muttered.

"Jesse, stop talking about me like I'm not in the room." Quinton groaned.

"Q! Stay focused please!" Allie yelled.

"I won't be able to get this thing off the ground without some sort of activation code." He insisted.

"Are you sure?" Tommy asked.

"Yes, it requires an access code to start. I don't know the code! I can try to hack it, but we'll be dead before I can get into it!"

"Move over." Allie climbed into the cockpit and climbed underneath the dashboard.

"What are you doing?" Quinton inquired.

"I'm going to try and hotwire it." Allie said, reaching up to mess with the wiring.

"You know how to hotwire a plane?" Jesse went slack jawed. "That's so hot."

"Come on lover boy." Tommy grabbed Jesse by the shoulder and began pulling him out of the room.

"What are we doing?" Jesse asked.

"We're going to keep the enemy busy until she's done."

"Oh, that sounds easy." He said sarcastically. "Shut up, and take this." Tommy handed Jesse a gun. "Deathstroke dropped it earlier, and it's not really my style."

Jesse looked at the gun wide eyed. "What do I do with it?"

"Shoot it, and don't miss!" Tommy whipped out more batarangs into the oncoming army, and Jesse fired the gun blindly.

A barricade of drones all fired at once, and a million bullets soared at Tommy and Jesse! Tommy braced himself, but suddenly there was a violent shaking at the bullets all dropped out of the air. The drones then dented up as if they had gone through a giant paint shaker, and fell the ground in a heap.

"What the hell?"

"I put up a vibrational barrier in front of us." Jesse said weakly, a distant look in his eyes. "It takes a lot out of me to do that, but it protected us."

"Don't suppose you can do that again?"

"Not a chance."

"Didn't think so." Tommy kicked away a flying parademon and shot it with a tazed it. The enemies just kept on coming and coming.

Then Deathstroke dropped from the rafters and kicked both of them down! He swung his machete at Tommy, but Tommy slammed his palms on the sides of the weapon, struggling to hold it back. Jesse came in from behind, but Deathstroke actually blocked most of his strikes!

"I have the fastest reflexes you'll ever encounter. Probably even faster than yours." Deathstroke boasted, kicked Jesse in the side and knocking him down. Deathstroke then turned to land the finishing blow on Tommy, but Jesse grabbed his ankle and sent a powerful vibration through it, shaking Deathstroke completely off balance.

Tommy plunged his knife into Deathstroke's upper arm. The villain screamed and stumbled back, falling into a chunk of debris. He ripped the knife out of his arm and threw it back.

Then two small missiles soared out and blew around forty of Deathstroke's army to smithereens. The plane began to rise up off the ground, and a secret exit in the ceiling opened up like a garage door.

"I got it going!" Allie yelled.

Deathstroke realized that the tide of the battle was turning against him. "Another time then." He said. Then he twisted the handle on his machete, and a small rocket ignited in the back. The machete began to soar through the air like a bladed missile!

Deathstroke turned and headed out the way he had come in. The flying machete sailed toward Tommy, who managed to duck just in time.

The weapon flew over his head, and drove right into Dinah's chest…

**Wow, I just realized that I'm mean with cliffhangers. I'll be sure to update faster next time. Please review!**


	4. Enlightenment

**soareagle- I will not confirm or deny who Tommy's parents are, you'll have to wait until the big reveal in chapter 5. We will see a Superman kid in the story though, I promise you that.**

**Keep reading and reviewing, everyone!**

Chapter Four: Enlightenment 

"Dinah!" Tommy sprinted over to her. Blood was already pooling around the woman's body. The crimson liquid splashed out of her mouth when she tried to speak. "Dinah! Hold on, please hold on!" Tommy pleaded, propping her back up with his arm.

"T- Tommy… go…"

"No, I'm not just going to leave you here, I-"

"Shut up." She choked out.

Jesse flashed over and knelt down next to Tommy. "Dude, we have to go."

"No! We can't just leave her here to die!" Tommy protested, all the while forcing himself not to cry.

"Tommy look at her. She's going to die no matter what we do." Jesse said grimly. "You know I'm right."

"He fired at me… that blade was met for me. She shouldn't be dying right now. This isn't right." Tommy hung his head.

"B- b – better me – than you." She insisted, her voice getting weaker.

"I'm sorry. If I had just listened to you and stayed here… none of this would be happening." Tommy stammered.

"Hurry – go." She pleaded, her eyes becoming more and more distant.

"I don't-"

"Tommy – go to – N-Light… find out… who you are."

"What?" Tommy begged. "What's N-Light?"

"You'll make a great leader Tommy… a great hero…"

"I don't understand! What are you trying to tell me?" He pleaded with her, but she was already gone.

"Dude we have to leave, like, now." Jesse grabbed Tommy by the shoulder and pulled him toward the plane. The two jumped into the aircraft, and Quinton flew it through the exit in the ceiling.

The mountain crumbled into rubble behind them. Tommy looked over and saw a tear streaming down Allie's face. "My mom… is she…?" Allie's voice wavered. Tommy nodded grimly.

"Yeah Allie. She's gone."

"No…" A tear ran down Allie's cheek and her voice faltered.

"Hey everyone, I understand this is probably a bad time, but we've got company!" Quinton's voice broke in.

Tommy looked out the back window of the plane and saw that they were pursued by several drones. "Ah, shit." He growled. "Q, get this thing going as fast as you can. Jesse, you man the machine guns, I'll take the missiles. Allie… if you could please collect yourself and help out with your bow, we'd all really appreciate it."

"Hold on! Dinah said that if anything happened, I'm in charge!" Quinton protested.

"So what do you suggest them, Quinton?"

"Um, let's go with your plan."

"Thought so."

Suddenly the entire ship rocked violently. "We're taking fire!" Quinton announced.

"Hurry up! Move!" Tommy barked. He and Jesse ran to opposite sides of the control panel and began manually operating the weapons, while Allie smashed out the back window and started firing shooting off arrows at the attacking drones.

At one point Jesse machine gunned off the thrusters on one of the larger drones, and he began falling uncontrollably toward the ship!

"Get down!" Tommy yelled, ducking to the floor. The drone ripped though and literally ripped the roof off of the ship.

"Whoa! Hope the JLA had good insurance!" Jesse gaped.

"Jesse, shut the hell up." Tommy sighed.

A missile blasted into one of the ship's turbines. "Not good. I won't be able to steer this thing very well without that, not to mention it'll cut our speed nearly in half." Quinton said in a doomed tone.

Allie continued popping off arrows, doing everything she could to take the drones down, but they just kept coming.

A missile blasted into the bottom of the aircraft, and the force off the impact blew Jesse right out of it! The speedster went flying through the air, screaming.

"Oh my God! Jesse!" Allie screamed.

"I got him!" Tommy shot a grapple from his wrist-launcher, and the line wrapped around Jesse's ankle, and Tommy held on tightly, flying Jesse like a kite.

"Hey,-" Jesse began to yell.

"Jesse, if you say you can see your house from up there, I swear to God I will let go of this line!" Tommy threatened, shutting him up.

The drones were getting dangerously close now. An idea sparked in Jesse's mind, and he began twirling his arms as fast as he could, creating two small cyclones! This pushed him in front of the ship as far as the line would allow, and the force of the cyclones increased the ship's speed tremendously!

"Holy crap! He just tripled our speed!" Quinton said in awe.

"And he's slowing down the drones! Look!" Allie pointed. The cyclones were blasting back the drones.

"We might actually make it." Quinton shook his head in amazement.

Then there was the sound of metal scraping against metal. The drones began to disassemble, and all of their parts clustered up, and began forming together! The remaining six drones were combining into a giant super drone!

"That's not good." Allie took a step back.

The mass of black Apokoliptian steel ignited its thrusters, and ripped through the air after the ship. Allie fired three explosive arrows at once, but this had little effect. Tommy tried firing missiles, but found that they were out.

Thinking quickly, Tommy hooked the grapple he was holding onto a guide rail, securing Jesse, and then took his knife and jammed it into the floor of the plane. He forcefully cut out a rough square chunk, and began digging inside the inner workings of the ship.

"What are you doing?" Quinton shouted.

"Saving our asses." Tommy used a multi-tool device from the utility belt to unscrew several bolts holding in the massive fuel tank in the ship. Then, using all his strength, he ripped the tank out of the plane.

"Tommy! We need that!" Quinton pleaded.

"Just trust me." Tommy said calmly. The plane began to fall, despite Jesse's efforts to keep it in the air with the cyclones. Tommy waited until just the right moment, and then leapt off of the plane! He landed on the drone's back, right on top of it's thrusters.

"Let's see how your rockets handle a little extra fuel!" Tommy jammed the fuel tank into one of the thrusters, and then leapt off. The fire quickly burned through the tank, and the concentrated fuel mixture exploded into a fiery blaze. The blast completely swallowed up the drone, blowing it apart from the inside. Tommy fell blindly out of the smoke, and fired his grapple upwards before his vision had even recovered. In a stroke of pure luck, the grapple hooked onto the ship, and Allie quickly worked to pull him up.

Soon Tommy was back on board, covered in ash and in a stupor.

"Tommy, that was amazing!" She hugged him.

"Yeah, hate to kill the mood, but we're falling pretty fast!" Quinton's voice broke in. Tommy's vision began to come back into focus, and he realized that the sky was blurring passed. They were about to crash!

"How much longer to you think you can keep it in the air, Q?" Tommy asked.

"Not long. If Jesse keeps up what he's doing… maybe six or seven minutes."

"That doesn't give us a whole lot of time to find parachutes." Tommy immediately began searching in the compartments underneath the seats. Then there was a vicious metallic roar.

"You have got to be kidding me…" Allie looked up to see the giant, blazing robot emerging out of the smoke! Chunks were flying off of it as it soared after them, but it refused to give up.

"No! The thing just won't die!" Tommy punched the wall.

Smoke began billowing around them as the falling ship reached terminal velocity. Tommy, Allie and Quinton had to grip the edges of the ship to keep from flying out. The outside of the ship started to burn, and the line keeping Jesse in the air snapped.

Jesse screamed, and was immediately pulled the other way in a forceful jerk. He flailed toward the blazing robot, and broke into a super-fast spin, becoming a human cannonball! The impact nearly sliced the drone in half, and it was blasted apart. Jesse was nowhere to be seen.

Chunks of the ship started breaking off and flying into the sky. Tommy pulled off his leather jacket, revealing the black sleeveless shirt underneath, and grabbed Allie's hand. "Jump!" He yelled over the noise.

"What? Tommy that's insane!"

"It's better than staying in this deathtrap. Now come on!"

Then, the ship crashed into a heavily wooded forest, mowing down trees and exploded into a ball of fire.

Tommy and Allie crashed into the ground a few feet away. They had used his jacket as a makeshift parachute, but it only slowed their fall to a point just below a lethal impact. They rolled hard, tumbling violently along the ground. Allie was on her feet first. "Quinton!" She screamed, looking at the burning debris from the ship.

"Oh no." Tommy got to his feet and they broke into a sprint toward the blaze. "Q! Come on man, don't go dying on me!" Tommy yelled, scanning the fire for any signs of life. He found none.

"No, no, no, no." Allie fell to her knees, sobbing. "First my mom… now Q."

"What about Q?" Quinton's voice broke the silence.

"What the…" Tommy spun around in surprise. Quinton was standing several feet behind them, completely unscathed.

"Q! You're ok!" Allie ran over to him.

"How the hell- but- what the…" Tommy stuttered, looking back and forth between the rubble and Quinton. "When did you jump? And, how did you survive the landing?"

"Don't question the mojo Tommy." Quinton said coolly.

"No, seriously, what happened?"

"I found a parachute." Quinton nodded his head toward an unfolded parachute lying on the ground. "There was only one, so I didn't tell you guys about it."

"You selfish bastard." Allie laughed. "I'm glad you're alright, Q."

"Whatever." Tommy crossed his arms. "So I guess Jesse bit the dust. Probably a good thing for us, the guy was nothing but a liability, not to mention he's completely untrustworthy."

Then a shadow passed over Tommy, and he looked up just in time to see Jesse falling right at him. "Oh come on!" Tommy held up his arms and Jesse crashed into him like a meteor. The two crashed to the ground rather painfully. Jesse was covered from head to toe in oil from the burning drone.

"That – was – insane!" Jesse shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Of all the places you could have landed, you had to come back here?" Tommy sat up grumpily.

"You missed me and you know it."

"Actually, I enjoyed the few seconds without you."

"Why are you saying things you don't really mean? I don't understand." Jesse smiled and climbed to his feet, and began talking so fast that no one could understand him.

"Chill out, West. You're annoying the piss out of me." Tommy grunted, realizing the pain he was in now that the adrenaline had worn off.

"Dude, I just got launched at a burning killer frickin' robot, I have the right to be a little riled up, ok?"

Tommy was about to make some smart comeback, when he was interrupted by crying. He looked over and saw that Allie was sitting up against a tree, her knees pulled up to her chest, with her face buried.

He had gotten so caught up in the situation that he hadn't even considered how Allie was feeling. Her mother had just been murdered.

"Oh, right." Jesse muttered. "You should go talk to her, Tommy."

"Why me? I'm not good with people."

"Yeah, but I can't stand it when girls cry, and if I talk to her, she's going to make me cry. Plus I just really don't want to deal with mushy emotional crap."

"Well I'll probably just make it worse if I try to cheer her up." Tommy rubbed the back of his head.

"What about Quinton?"

"Are you kidding? He understands emotion about as much as a rock does. He'd just go over there and bombard her with useless facts."

"No facts are useless, Tommy. You just have to know the proper time to utilize them." Quinton interrupted.

"Shut up Buddha, we're trying to figure out what to do here." Jesse snapped.

"Well, I think we should set up camp and look for food." Quinton reasoned.

"I mean what to do about Allie, you stupid-"

"Will you guys shut up? Fine, I'll go talk to her." Tommy reluctantly moved over in Allie's direction, and sat down next to her. "Hey."

"Hi." Her voice was distant.

"I, um… I'm sorry Allie."

"Wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it was. That blade was meant for me, I ducked, and it hit Dinah."

"Well what were you supposed to do Tommy? Stand there and get impaled?" Allie sounded almost frustrated.

"No, I guess not. I don't know." Tommy was already getting uncomfortable. "Look, I don't really no what I'm supposed to say right now…"

"Thanks Tommy."

"Thanks?"

"Yeah. For trying to be sweet." She looked up at the sky. She hadn't been crying as much as Tommy had expected. "Wow… so that's the sky." Her voice trailed off.

"Yeah." Tommy looked up too. Since Apokolips had been in power, the sky was always thick with a layer of dark, almost reddish clouds, constantly shrouding the Earth. "It used to be blue."

"I know." Allie looked over and saw Tommy wincing; he was still clutching his shoulder. Allie suddenly remembered that back in the cave, Tommy had been shot! "Tommy! Have you just been ignoring that?"

"I've been trying to."

"You can't just leave a bullet in your shoulder! What's wrong with you?"

"I've had other things to think about."

"Huh. Hold on, I'll try to remove it."

"Do you even know how to remove a bullet?"

"Well, it can't be too hard… like removing a sliver, right?"

"Probably not." Tommy began fumbling around with the utility belt until he found a pair of tweezers, as well as some powerful pain killers. He swallowed them down and handed Allie the tweezers. "Do whatever you need to do."

Several feet away from all this, Quinton and Jesse stood awkwardly. "We should get a move on soon. The smoke from the crash will attract more soldiers." Quinton pointed out.

"I say we wait until Allie's back on her feet. She just lost her mom; give her some time before we start shoveling life-or-death situations in her face." Jesse argued.

"Why are you suddenly so sensitive?" Quinton asked.

"Well… I know what it's like to lose people, ok?" Jesse looked away shoved his hands in his pockets.

"You mean your sister?" Quinton inquired.

"What?" Jesse jerked his head around. "How the hell do you know about my sister, you freak?"

"I've read up on every member of the Justice League. Wally West had twins… a boy and a girl. Considering you're alone, I'm guessing the girl died at one point." Quinton reasoned, brushing a strand of orangish hair out of his face and repositioning his orange sunglasses. Suddenly there was a blur in front of him, and Jesse grabbed him violently by the shirt collar.

"It's none of your business, alright? Don't you dare mention her again." Jesse threatened.

"Ok." Q showed no emotion.

"Good." Jesse shoved him back and began walking off.

"Where are you going Jesse?"

"Away from you guys. You're all bad luck." Jesse shook his head.

"Jess, hold on." Allie insisted.

"I'm a loner, ok? I always have been. It's better that way… for everyone."

"But Jesse-"

"See ya' beautiful." Then Jesse was gone.

"Geesh, talk about mood swings." Quinton reached into the front pocket of his oversized blue hoody and pulled out a black notebook and a pencil. He opened up the notebook and began scribbling something down.

The next time Allie looked up, Quinton was no where in sight. "I hate it when he disappears like that." She handed Tommy a wad of gauze she had found in the utility belt. "Bit down on that, this will probably hurt." She said.

Tommy did as she instructed, and winced as she began pulling out the bullet with the tweezers.

**(Tibet – Ruins of Nanda Parbat) **

Nanda Parbat had been a hidden, mystical city hidden in the mountains of Tibet. It was home to hundreds of pacifist monks, who practiced focus and concentration of magical forces.

During the invasion, Nanda Parbat had been decimated. Apokolips had laid the city to waste with ease, killing all of its inhabitants. But it was still a place of concentration, a place cloaked with powerful magic.

And it was the only place that Fate, a young girl, could find peace. Fate sat within the ruins of the great temple, in careful mediation. Her powers were nearly impossible to control, but at Nanda Parbat, she found much less difficulty in it.

Fate let out a deep sigh, and looked at the dark, shrouded sky. In her visions, she had seen many images where the sky had been blue, and beautiful. Now it was just evil and depressing. Just like everything under Apokoliptian rule.

Fate stretched her arms tiredly and went out to the gardens to find breakfast. It was probably the only place on Earth where edible vegetation still grew. Apokolips had pretty much chosen to ignore Nanda Parbat after they had exterminated the monks, considering it useless land. So food could still be found in the gardens.

Fate brushed her silky dark hair out of her face, and looked at her refection in the small pond. Her eyes were glowing again. Sometimes they glowed a dark people, and other times they glowed a bright golden. She didn't understand why. It probably had something to do with how she had been born. Or at least, how she had been created…

Today her eyes were glowing the dark, fluorescent purple. That usually meant that her powers would be harder to control that day. For some reason, purple equaled difficulty with powers.

"Wonderful." She groaned. Fate scanned the area intently. Sometimes she was visited by the spirits of the dead monks, but apparently not today. Today she was alone. Fate touched her hand to one of plants in the garden, wanting to make a chair for herself. She tried to focus, commanding the plant to grow, but instead it burst into flames.

"Darn it!" She pulled her own hair. Fate plopped down on the ground, allowing her wavy dark hair to fall into her face. She began picking grapes off of a vine. "They had to send me here… my stupid parents couldn't just let me die like everybody else. I don't what they expected me to do." She grumbled to the open air. _"Mom always said I would bring peace… but I don't know how I'm supposed to do that if I can't even control my own powers." _Fate thought.

Suddenly there was a surge through her brain, like a ripple of energy coursing into her body. She saw a bright purple flash, and then the scene changed around her. She saw a boy. He was pretty tall, with black hair that ran half way down the back of his neck, with his bangs cut at eye-level. His eyes were a dark, hard and angry, but deep and emotional at the same time. He was wearing a black cut-off and a pair of faded blue jeans, and held a black combat knife in his right hand. He stood ready for a fight. He was standing in a dark room, and he looked lost.

"What the hell…" Fate muttered. "Well at least he's hot." She smiled, admiring his muscled arms, his broad shoulders, and his strangely attractive rage.

Suddenly the scene shifted again. This time there was a bright golden flash, and when it faded, there was a different boy. This one was a little bit taller than the first. He had messy blonde hair that looked like it had never seen a comb, and his eyes were a bright, watery blue that seemed to glow in the sunlight. He was smiling warmly, and looked like the happiest guy in the world. He had was muscular as well, but not nearly as tensed up as the first boy had been. He stood with his hands in his pockets, wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt. There was a mark that looked like had been branded on his arm… a large S symbol.

"What is this…?" Fate looked around.

_"This is your destiny, child." _A strong feminine voice said. The voice sounded as if it were coming from all directions.

"Hello?" Fate called out, confused. The scene changed one last time. Now both of the boys were there, staring each other down hatefully. They both looked like they had been badly beaten up, but they attacked each other violently. Then there was a fire… a powerful blaze that engulfed them both. "W-what is all this?" Fate demanded.

_"Only you can bring them together, child. It is your destiny. You are the bridge. You are the one to bring peace to this world, by bringing both sides together."_

"I- I don't understand."

_"You must bring together Order and Chaos, or they shall destroy each other. And all shall be lost." _

Then the vision faded away, and Fate was back in the garden. There was a painful burning on her wrists, and she looked down to see two glowing tattoos, one on each wrist. One was in a dark black ink, while the other was an almost whitish gold. They were ancient symbols of some sort… Fate could read them, but she wasn't sure how. The black one said chaos, and the whitish-gold one said order.

"What's happening…?" Fate suddenly felt very hot, and turned around to see that the entire temple was burning! She sprinted out into the open air, escaping the blaze. She had no idea what was going on, but she was sure of one thing… she had to find these two boys.

**(Wooded Area – Polluted Lake)**

Jesse had found a lake full of murky, disgusting water. He scooped some up in his hands, and then began rubbing them together and incredible speeds, generating friction. The friction created enough heat to purify the water. Or at least, Jesse was pretty sure it worked that way. He drank the handful of water and stood up.

His stomach growled violently. "Man, there's gotta' be something I can eat around here." He grumbled, looking around the rotting, dead treetops for any sign of food. There was nothing.

Then there was a rustling in the bushes. "Hmm… a rabbit maybe?" Jesse grinned. "If friction can purify water, it can cook a rabbit." He zoomed over to the bush and pulled the brush away; looking for whatever furry creature might be inside.

There was a low growl, and then a spout of fire burst out toward Jesse! "Whoa!" Jesse ducked to the ground. "Not – a – bunny." Jesse leapt back as a flaming beast leapt out at him. He dodged out of the way, and more began to surround the area. Jesse sprinted away so fast that he broke the sound barrier.

Back at the camp they had set up, Tommy wound the gauze around the wound, still stinging from when the bullet had been pulled out. He looked over to Quinton, and saw that he was leaned against a tree, still scribbling on the notebook.

"Hey Q, what are you doing exactly?"

"Getting my thoughts down on paper." Quinton responded.

"Is that why you're disappearing all the time? You're writing down your thoughts?"

"Not writing. Drawing."

"Huh?" Tommy was surprised. He couldn't imagine Quinton being much of an artist.

"Where'd Allie go?" Quinton changed the subject.

"She's out looking for firewood. I wanted to do it, but she wouldn't let me. Said I needed to recover more."

"Why are you so… different all the sudden?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, normally you'd have threatened me at least three times by now. But we're actually sitting down and having a conversation."

"There's no reason for us to be bickering right now, Q. We're in enough trouble already. I can restrain myself."

"I'm proud of you then. But that's not the real reason, is it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You seem really distraught over Dinah's death. I don't blame you, we all are, but you almost seem… guilty."

"I am." Tommy looked away. "If I had just listened and stayed in the cave, none of this would have happened. Deathstroke only found the cave because he followed me there. If I hadn't left… Dinah would still be alive."

"Yes, she probably would." Quinton agreed.

"Thanks for the encouragement Q." Tommy sighed, absently sharpening his knife. "I'm so stupid. I should have known I was being followed. I should have known not to go right back to the cave. How could I be such an idiot?"

"Tommy, you're beating yourself up too much. I don't know a whole lot about feelings and such, but I do understand the flow of time pretty damn well. And I know that what happened, happened. You can't change it now. So move on."

The conversation was interrupted when Allie came back, carrying a few logs. "This should get us through the night if we keep the fire low, which we should. We don't want to draw attention." She said.

Then a fast-moving blur knocked her over. Allie tumbled to the ground, with Jesse lying right on top of her, breathing hard.

"Jesse! What the hell are you doing?"

"Whoa, I, uh-" Jesse started to stutter, surprised. Allie shoved him off of her and got to her feet.

"What's the matter with you?"

"I was going to kill this rabbit, ok? I was hungry. So I went over to the bush, and then there was like, fire! And it almost killed me! So then I started running away, and more of them started to come, they were like these burning dog-things! And I think they followed me, and they were really, really scary!" Jesse spouted off at a hundred miles an hour.

Allie stood for a moment trying to process what Jesse had just told her. Something about rabbits and fire and burning dogs. "Jesse, are you feeling ok?"

Then there were a serious of vicious roars, and what looked like a mass of fire started moving toward the group!

"See! They followed me!" Jesse pointed.

The mass of fire began to separate in several individual flaming orbs. And the orbs started to reshape themselves, taking on the form of large, ferocious dogs!

"What are those?" Tommy whipped out his knife.

"They're Apokoliptian weapons called Hellhounds." Quinton started. "It's actually very sophisticated technology. These small floating orbs generate intense fire, and then mold that fire into any form they choose for a body. Usually dogs, hence the name Hellhounds."

"Bad news?" Tommy guessed.

"Very." Quinton nodded.

A Hellhound leapt at Tommy, who slashed at its throat with his knife. But the knife simply passed through the fiery body, and the hound bit Tommy in the upper arm, burning him. Tommy rolled out of the way before the burn became serious, and whipped a baterang at it. The baterang passed through its body as well, just as he had expected.

Quinton was using the laser javelin he had stolen from a parademon, but that was having about as much effect as the baterang. Jesse ran around throwing rocks at them, doing no good at all.

Allie shot one with a cryogenic arrow and froze it, but it simply melted through the ice in a matter of seconds and continued attacking.

"You had to lead them here, didn't you?" Tommy yelled.

"Sorry, I couldn't think of anything better." Jesse yelled back.

"How about leading them into water or something? That probably would have worked!"

"Well I'm not as smart as you are Tommy, ok?"

The onslaught continued, and it pretty much became a matter of dodging the Hellhound's lunges. But more and more of them were arriving, and it was becoming increasingly hard to evade them all.

Quinton's blue hoody caught on fire at one point, and he was forced to rip it off, revealing a yellow t-shirt underneath.

"Yellow?" Tommy shot him a glare.

"Shut up." Quinton grumbled, leaping out of the way of a Hellhound.

By now there were at least a hundred Hellhounds in the clearing, all closing in on the group. Jesse, Allie, Tommy and Quinton backed into a circle, and were completely surrounded by the Hellhounds.

"Well, this sucks." Allie sighed.

Then, at the last moment, an EMP pulse struck several of the Hellhounds. Their cores malfunctioned, and they died out, the fire fizzling away.

"What just happened?" Tommy looked at Quinton.

"I don't know." Q shrugged.

Then a man landed in front of them, probably between seventeen and twenty years old. He was tall, and wore a dark blue jacket completely zipped; overtop pants of the same color. A simple black facemask conformed to his skin and shielded all facial features. His hair was a sandy brown color, long on the sides.

"Looks like you guys have gotten yourselves in pretty deep." He said confidently.

"Who are you?" Tommy demanded.

"Call me Ricochet. I'm a professional pain in Apokolips's ass."

More Hellhounds roared violently, leaping toward the new arrival.

"Stupid mutts." Ricochet pulled out about a dozen heavy steel marbles. There was a faint electrical noise, and then the marbles launched out of his hands like bullets! They each struck a different Hellhound, and destroyed the inner cores, causing them to fizzle out.

"How'd you do that?" Jesse gaped.

"I control magnetic fields. And let me give you a tip about fighting these mutts, aim for the little orbs in the center, usually located around the middle of their chest. It's the only way to kill them."

"Sounds good to me." Tommy whipped out a series of baterangs, killing many hellhounds. Allie joined in, shooting off arrows with pinpoint accuracy. Quinton shot off the energy javelin with practiced precision, and Jesse… threw more rocks.

After several minutes they had annihilated over a hundred attacking hellhounds, but they continued to come. More and more were filling into the area by the second.

"Damn, Apokolips is really determined to kill you guys." Ricochet shook his head. "I've never seen this many hellhounds in one place."

The hellhounds began breathing spouts of flame, shooting with impressive accuracy. Jesse started running straight up a tree, followed by several of the hellhounds, whose feet set the tree ablaze.

"Bad plan!" Jesse leapt off of the tree, and was bit in the leg by a group of hounds, causing him severe pain. He managed to vibrate out of their grip, and then arrows soared into the hellhound's chests, killing them. "Thanks beautiful." Jesse gave her thumbs up.

"You owe me." She smiled.

One damaged Quinton's javelin, destroying the laser. "That's not a good thing." Quinton backed away.

Tommy had almost run out of baterangs now, and was scrambling around to pick up ones he had thrown. "This isn't going well!" He yelled, staring at the multiple small burns he had obtained during the battle.

Ricochet was fending off a group of hellhounds on his own, when they simultaneously breathed waves of fire at him. Ricochet's eyes widened, and the steel marbles he was using dropped to the ground.

Jesse zoomed by and pulled him out of the way just in time. "Dude, what just happened? You get stage fright or something?"

"Heat and I don't really mix." Ricochet shook his head.

"What do you mean by that?"

"When a magnet is heated to a certain point, it loses its magnetism. Get it now?"

"I stopped listening after 'heated,' but whatever." Jesse zoomed off and continued fighting.

By now the whole forest was burning to cinders around them. Even the dying grass was now ablaze. The team was quickly running out of room to move, let alone fight.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Jesse said grimly.

"Looks that way." Quinton nodded.

A fireball ripped out and struck both Jesse and Tommy down at once.

"No!" Allie screamed. Then Quinton was tackled and pulled into a cluster of hounds. More began closing in on her.

Tommy's vision blurred as he felt himself being torn apart by the hellhounds. He could feel his flesh melting, smell his own body cooking. This was a million times worse than being shot.

Everything turned red. And then there was ear-splitting, high pitched shriek. The hellhounds devouring him began to dematerialize. He sat up slowly, and saw that all the hellhounds were beginning to die around them. He cupped his ears, but they still bleed from the screech. Tommy glanced to Allie, and saw that the sound was coming from her.

Allie had released an enormous sonic scream, greater than anything her mother had ever produced. The scream caused the cores inside of the hellhounds to explode! Soon, they had all been destroyed.

It began to rain heavily, extinguishing the fires around them. Allie fell to her knees in a daze.

"Allie…" Tommy said after his senses had come back into focus. "You- you destroyed them all!"

"They pissed me off." She huffed, her voice incredibly weak. She began to fall, and Jesse caught her.

"That was amazing timing, beautiful. I was almost a goner." The speedster smiled. Allie passed out.

"Come with me, before more show up. We're safe for the duration of the rainstorm, after that, we'd better be out of here." Ricochet ordered.

"Before you start giving orders, you mind telling me exactly who the hell you are?" Tommy demanded.

"For the time being, I'm your only friend. Now follow me." He directed. "There's an old Cadmus bunker not too far from here, we'll rest up there."

"He seems to know where he's going. Just don't let your guard down." Quinton warned.

"I don't plan on it." Tommy followed reluctantly.

Jesse followed too, carrying Allie in his arms.

"I thought you were a loner? What happened to that?" Quinton shot him a glance.

"That was before I realized Apokolips wanted me dead too. Those Hellhounds attacked me first, not much of a confidence builder. I'm not going off on my own for a while." Jesse reasoned.

Soon they reached a large boulder on the side of a rocky hill. "Hold on." Ricochet touched his hand to the rock, and magnetically moved it away from the hill, revealing a tunnel.

"How'd you do that? Rocks like that aren't magnetic." Quinton inquired.

"Through physical contact, I can magnetize any solid material. As long as it's inorganic, that is." Ricochet explained. They walked into the old Cadmus bunker. There wasn't much to it, just a desk with some chairs and a few survival packs.

There was a mattress on the floor in the corner. Jesse laid Allie down on it. "That scream she pulled was pretty cool." He grinned.

"What I don't get is how we're still alive. That sonic scream should have been enough to kill us. It was like; she shielded us from most of the sound." Quinton pointed out.

"So what's your deal?" Tommy looked to Ricochet skeptically.

"Me? I'm a guy with goals, and the power to achieve those goals."

"And those goals would be…?"

"They would be none of your business. Just know that I'm completely against Apokolips."

"I wish I could take your word for it, but I can't."

"Kid, if I had anything to do with Apokolips, do you really think you'd be alive right now?"

"Probably not. But until I have reason to trust you, I won't."

"You're Tommy Gray, right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know that?"

"I got my hands on this." Ricochet pulled out a file and slid it across the table. Tommy opened it up, and saw a mug shot of himself. The pictures were taken while he was running from the Secret Police in Gotham.

"What's this?" Tommy demanded.

"Read further. Check out the bounty on your head."

Tommy read down to the bounty. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. "One-Hundred Billion?"

"Whoa, wait, as in dollars?" Jesse gasped.

"Yup. A hundred billion, on you're head." Ricochet took the file back.

"But, why?" Tommy gaped.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Ricochet shrugged.

"I haven't done anything nearly that big… how does that happen? Who issued the bounty?"

"Darkseid did."

There was absolute silence. "Yeah," Ricochet continued, "Darkseid was quoted with saying that you were extremely dangerous. Any idea why?"

"Not a clue." Tommy shook his head.

"Then he must know something about you that you don't."

"Holy crap. Who did you say your parents were again?" Jesse raised a shocked eyebrow.

"I don't know. Before Dinah died, she told me to go to E-Light and find out who I am. I don't know what she means by that. I don't even know what E-Light is." Tommy sighed.

"E-Light? Never heard of it." Jesse agreed.

"I have." Ricochet said in a not-so-surprised tone. "It's a slang term used by most of Darkseid's agents here on Earth."

"Slang for what?" Quinton inquired.

"You guys ever heard of Brainiac?" He asked.

"No." Jesse answered.

"Nope." Was Tommy's answer.

"I have." Quinton interjected. "Brainiac was one of the biggest villains the Justice League ever faced. He was most intelligent being in the universe. He was an alien subconscious in a robotic body, obsessed with obtaining all the knowledge that exists."

"Exactly." Ricochet nodded. "Well during the invasion, Brainiac tried to take over a bunch of Apokoliptian technology and take over everything for himself. Darkseid destroyed him, but saved all of the information stored in his mind. Brainiac's memory core serves as the primary modem for all of the Informational Relay Networks on Earth, constantly feeding information back and forth between Apokolips. That memory core contains almost limitless knowledge."

"So where is it?" Tommy demanded.

"I'm getting to that. It's located on the main relay station on Earth, which is kind of its own island. People call the place E-Light. You know, short for Enlightenment."

"Enlightenment?" Jesse echoed. "What's that?"

"The gaining of knowledge." Quinton explained.

"So, Dinah wanted me to go there… and access this memory core?" Tommy asked.

"Sounds that way. If you need information, E-Light is the place to get it." Ricochet nodded.

"Well if it can tell me who my parents are, then I'm in." Tommy clenched his fists.

"Limitless knowledge? Hell yes, I'm in too." Quinton added.

"I'm already in this deep; I might as well stick along for the ride." Jesse agreed.

"I'm sure Allie's in too, but we'll ask her when she wakes up." Tommy glared at Ricochet. "What about you? We could use your powers."

"If Darkseid thinks you're dangerous, then I want to know why. Plus, I need some info myself… so yes, I'll go." Ricochet stated. "But, there might be a problem with getting there."

"Why? You said it's on its own island right… where's the island?"

"You guys ever heard of Themyscira?" Ricochet questioned.

"Um… home of the Amazons, right?" Quinton recalled.

"Yeah. It's hidden in the Bermuda Triangle. When Darkseid invaded, legend has it that the Amazons all just disappeared. Apokolips used Themyscira to set up E-Light." Ricochet explained.

"The Bermuda Triangle? How in the hell are we supposed to get there?" Jesse asked what everyone was thinking.

"The area is heavy patrolled. Even if we could get a ship, it would be shot down in no time." Quinton pointed out.

"I might have an idea." Tommy piped in. "If we can't travel by air… I think I know a better alternative to get us through the water."

"What would that be, Tommy?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"A girl I met. Her name's Flo."

**(Apokolips – Darkseid's Palace)**

"Am I to understand that you failed me, Deathstroke?" Darkseid demanded.

"There were… unexpected complications, my lord." Deathstroke said nervously. "But, I did kill their guardian, Black Canary. Without her guidance, they should turn up in no time. I will not fail again."

"You have never failed before. So I will give you one final opportunity." Darkseid decided.

"Thank you, my lord. I will deploy search teams and-"

"Don't bother. The boy, the one they call Tommy, he still does not know who he is. They will go to Themyscira, to find Brainiac's memory core. I will supply with an army. Wait for them to arrive, and kill them immediately. I will also deploy the Furies, to avoid any other… mistakes."

"Thank you, my lord."

"And remember Deathstroke, I do _not_ give third chances."


	5. Truth

Chapter Five: The Truth 

"You want me to do WHAT?" Flo exclaimed. Finding her hadn't been easy. The group had taken a rout through a secret wing of the Batcave, which Jesse had showed them, as a shortcut to Gotham Harbor. And while there, Tommy had re-stocked his supply, and picked up a black and gray utility belt that he felt was more "his style." Once they reached the harbor, they had spent several hours trying to locate Flo. She had greeted them happily enough, but when they told her their plan, she didn't seem too enthusiastic.

"We aren't asking you to actually enter Themyscira with us. We just need you to transport us there." Tommy explained calmly.

"Not – a – chance." Flo crossed her arms. She was dressed in a blue tank top and a pair of shorts. With her long, silvery hair and her tanned skin, she looked like the perfect surfer. Except that at the moment, she looked really, really serious.

"Just take us close enough to the island that we can get on. We'll do the rest from there." Ricochet pleaded.

"No! I don't think you guys understand how dangerous this is! Themyscira is one of the most heavily guarded places you'll find. You can't go within a hundred miles of the Bermuda Triangle without being shot!" Flo persisted.

"Even if you were traveling under water? How tight can the security really be down there?" Tommy reasoned.

"You don't even know what kind of creatures are around there. They've populated the waters with Apokoliptian sea creatures. Most of those things make sharks look like minnows!"

"Come on, you're Aquaman's daughter right?" Jesse stepped forward. "Can't you just do that telepathic talk-to-fish thing and make them not kill us?"

"Huh… Aquatic Telepathy is hard, ok? Usually I can only make it work with smaller types of sea life."

"Please, Flo. If we know what it is about Tommy that Darkseid thinks is dangerous… it could give us an edge." Ricochet insisted.

"An edge? For what, exactly? Wait, you aren't really planning on…"

"Fighting Apokolips? That was my plan." Ricochet nodded.

"It's crossed my mind once or twice." Tommy added.

"Whoa, what?" Jesse backed away from the group. "Nobody said _anything _about starting a full-blown war with Apokolips! That's insane!"

"I agree with the annoying kid." Flo nodded to Jesse. "What you're planning to do here is suicide."

"Well at least our deaths will be worth it." Tommy said coldly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Flo looked at him disdainfully.

"I've pretty much wasted sixteen years of my life. I'm not wasting another second. You think I don't know that I'll probably die? Of course I know that. But at least I'll die knowing I actually did something with my life. That's a privilege you won't have."

"Excuse me?" Flo jabbed her finger into his chest. "Are you telling me that my life is worthless?"

"Name one thing you've ever done, other than hide." Tommy glared at her. She was silent. "Exactly," He went on, "You're a coward."

"Well the fact of the matter is, heroes die. And cowards live."

"So you really want to live like this? Just hiding from the world?"

There was another long silence.

"Ah, even if I _did _want to take you guys to Themyscira, what makes you think I _could _get you all there?"

"When you saved my life two days ago, I was drowning near Mt. Justice. You brought me here, almost four hundred miles, in about an hour. You obviously have some method and transport, and considering you're still alive, I'm guessing it's through the water, where Apokolips won't find you so easily." Tommy explained.

"Alright, so maybe I do." Flo sighed in defeat. "I'll take you guys to the Bermuda Triangle. After that, you're on your own."

"Fair enough." Ricochet decided.

"So how exactly will we be getting there?" Quinton chimed in.

"I'll show you." A small smirk crossed Flo's lips. "But not here. Follow me."

Flo leapt into the water, barely even making a splash as she disappeared into beneath the surface.

The group exchanged awkward glances to each other. "Should we follow her?" Quinton sounded uncertain.

"We've come this far. We might as well." Tommy shrugged, walking toward the edge of the docks.

"No!" Jesse's voice broke in. "No, there is no way in hell I am following some freaky fish chick down to the bottom of freakin' ocean, even if she is hot!"

"Jesse, come on." Tommy sighed.

"Not a chance!" Jesse screamed loudly.

"Hey! Sonic-scream hangover here!" Allie chimed in weakly, holding her palm to the side of her head. She still had a terrible migraine after using such a powerful scream against the Hellhounds.

"Sorry. But I'm out. I prefer to _not _head underwater and fight sea monsters and crap like that." Jesse shook his head.

"Alright Jess, I'm sure you'll be much safer on your own, anyway. After all, how likely is it that those Hellhounds will find you again?" Tommy taunted.

"Tommy, I know what you're trying to do." Jesse stood his ground, but then sighed. "And it completely worked." He walked over to the dock, and he and Tommy both dove into the waters.

Ricochet followed them. Quinton looked over to Allie. "You think you're strong enough to swim?"

"I guess." Allie and Quinton reluctantly jumped in after their teammates.

To everyone's surprise, they were able to breath! "Took you guys long enough." Flo spoke clearly in the water.

"How- how are we breathing?" Tommy asked, amazed that he wasn't even getting wet. He was also a little disturbed that Flo had suddenly developed gills on her neck.

"I put up an air bubble for you more land-oriented people." Flo smiled. "Just hope that nothing breaks my concentration, or you'll all sink like rocks."

"Good to know." Jesse's voice cracked.

"Jesse, you can't swim, can you?" Allie glanced over to him.

"What are you talking about? Why would you think that?" Jesse was suddenly very defensive.

"Because you turned into a spaz the moment Flo jumped into the water."

"I've never had to swim, ok? I can run across water! So swimming isn't really that important of a skill for me." Jesse folded his arms.

Flo shot Jesse a glance. "Is he always so…"

"Irritating? Yeah, pretty much." Tommy responded.

"You said you were going to show us something?" Quinton reminded her.

"Right. Follow me." Flo took off like a torpedo through the water, while the group struggled to keep up behind her. Jesse was in the very back, flopping around like a fish out of water.

Luckily, a powerful current picked up behind them and began carrying them closer to Flo's speed. She had likely created the current herself.

After a few minutes, they came to some kind of underwater cave. They swam a bit further before climbing out of a shallow pool, and stepping out into the cave.

"This is where I was born." Flo smiled.

"It's cool and all, but how do you plan to get us to Themyscira?" Ricochet mused.

"My dad left me this." Flo held out her hands toward another pool of water toward the end of the cave, this one deeper. She concentrated for a moment, and then a large submarine floated up to the surface!

"Whoa!" Allie ran over to the sub. It was big enough to contain all of them, and maybe some extra supplies. It was a golden-brown color, with Atlantean hieroglyphs along the sides.

"How'd you call it to the surface like that?" Quinton inquired.

"It responds to Aquatic Telepathy, just like a fish. Except the sub has no conscious of its own, so it takes almost no effort for me to control it."

"So you can just, tell it what to do with your thoughts?" Ricochet raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

"As long as it's within my telepathic range.

"That's pretty cool."

Soon everyone was onboard the submarine. The inside was more spacious than it appeared, providing a lounge area along with the cockpit.

"Nice." Jesse plopped down on a recliner. "Your dad had good taste in furniture."

"How fast can this thing get us to Themyscira?" Tommy leaned against the wall.

"I know a lot of shortcuts through deep-sea caverns and stuff. So if I manipulate the currents… about three hours." Flo guessed.

"That should give us time to come up with a battle plan. We can't just storm the beach like a bunch of savages and expect to get the job done. We need strategy." Ricochet pointed out.

"Well, since I'm not really much of a strategy guy, I'll leave you all to it." Jesse stood awkwardly and looked to Flo. "Hey, hot-fish-girl, you got anything to eat on this submarine?"

"Check in the back. And my name's Flo."

"Whatever." Jesse zoomed out the small door and to the back of the sub.

"Don't let him near anything other than food. He'll probably steal it." Tommy warned.

"I'll watch him. I'm not too into this strategy-thing either." Allie stood up and walked after Jesse.

Allie walked in to find Jesse shoveling a box of chocos into his mouth. "These… are the stalest cookies I have ever eaten." Jesse said through a full mouth.

"Well yeah, they've probably been on this thing for over a decade, genius." She laughed.

"Yup." Jesse looked at the expiration date. "These things were bought before the invasion even happened." He tossed the box over his shoulder. "A fitting last meal, isn't it?"

"Hey, don't talk like that. We're all going to come out of this alive."

"I wish I could be that optimistic, Allie. But it's a miracle we've survived this long." Jesse pushed back his spiky red hair. For the first time, his energetic blue eyes looked calm.

"Jesse…?"

"Yeah?" He turned to face Allie.

"What happened to your sister?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It must have been something really bad if you're so sensitive about it."

"I said I don't want to talk, ok Allie?" Jesse snapped, anger lining his voice. Then he looked into her startled emerald eyes, and sighed. "Look, I did something that I'm not proud of, ok? And she died because of it. Ever since then, my life has been like a bottomless pit. And more shit keeps getting shoveled into it."

Jesse reached into his pocket and pulled out a locket. He handed the locket to Allie. When she opened it, she saw a picture of a family. There was a man, who she recognized as Wally West, with his arm around a woman who must have been Linda Park. In front of them were two kids, probably four or five years old. One was clearly Jesse, he was scrawny, had messy red hair, and a hyperactive flare to his eyes. He was holding his fingers up behind his sister's head, making bunny ears. She looked a lot like him, the same eyes, the same fiery red hair, though hers was much longer and a bit wavier.

"This was taken during the invasion." Allie realized.

"Yeah. On the morning that my dad…"

"That he died?"

"Yeah." Jesse took the locket back. "I didn't really understand what was going on back then. It was just me, my sister Jessica, and mom and dad." A tear streamed onto the locket, and Jesse quickly blinked away any more that might fall from his eyes. "I remember when they took this picture. I remember exactly what my dad said to me."

"Jesse…" Allie tried to sound sympathetic.

"Things will get better son.'" Jesse's voice cracked as he recited his father's words. "I promise things will get better. I promise…'" Jesse paused for a moment. "I promise that I'll always be there for you.'"

"Oh God… Jesse." Allie realized that unlike the rest of them, Jesse had known his parents. He remembered them. And he missed them.

"That was the last thing he said to me. He promised that he'd always be there. Always." Jesse clenched his fist over the locket. "But he never came home."

"Jesse, I'm so sorry." She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Forget it." He pulled away from her. "It was a life lesson. Never trust anybody. They'll always let you down." He jammed the locket into his pocket and started walking toward the final door in the submarine.

Allie followed, even though she knew that he didn't want her to. They stepped out into the smallest room yet, it appeared to be nothing but a square.

"What's this? A panic room?" Jesse looked around.

"Don't think so." Allie touched her hand to the wall, and suddenly there was a blue flash throughout the room. The walls flipped, revealing an armory. There was a massive array of strange looking equipment surrounding them.

"Whoa." Jesse began to back away.

"Oh, you found the weaponry." Flo's voice came fro, behind.

Jesse and Allie turned to see her and Quinton standing by the doorway.

"We came to fill you in our plan so far." Quinton explained, looking around at the room. There were certainly a lot of items, but none of them really looked like weapons. "What did you say all this was, Flo?"

"It's Atlantean weaponry. Watch." Flo took hold of a brown cylinder, covered in Atlantean markings. She flicked the cylinder, and a whip of glowing blue water flashed out of it, remaining in a collected, solid form! She seemed to focus for a second, and a surge of electricity coursed through the whip.

"That is the coolest thing I have ever seen." Jesse grabbed for another object. This one was larger, and appeared to be a chest plate of some sort. "What's this one do?" He slid it on.

"That's-" Flo started to speak, when the chest plate began to glow a bright blue, and then the aura appeared to spread over his body.

When the light faded, the chest plate was gone, and Jesse was wearing an entirely new outfit. It was spandex, tight to the skin, but also had a significant amount of padding in areas such as his chest and shoulders.

The torso of the suit was a scarlet red, with yellow gloves over his hands, on which the knuckles were plated with steel to aid in punches. The legs were red, with yellow lightning bolts down the sides. The bolts carried into yellow boots, which were built for getting traction. His mask left his jaw, eyes and hair visible, but covered all other facial features. There were also yellow-tinted goggles for when his speed reached a point where his eyes were in danger. On his chest was a familiar symbol, a yellow lightning bolt.

"Jesse…?" Allie gaped. Then the looked to Flo. "What just happened to him?"

"In English, the name of that device he just used translates to 'Perfect Armor.' Once the wearer puts it on, it analyzes their very genetic structure, and also accesses the wearer's main personality traits, and creates the ideal armor for them."

"All I know is, my ass looks great in spandex." Jesse grinned, clenching his fists. He found that the padding around his belt-line was actually a series of compartments, and when he opened one up, he found a bunch of strange little balls.

"What are these things?" He asked.

"Food pills, because of your super-metabolism. One of those could last you several hours." Flo explained.

"Perfect." Jesse popped one into his mouth.

"I have got to try." Allie smiled.

"Here." Flo tossed Allie another one of the Perfect Armor chest plates. Allie slid the device on and the same blue glow enveloped her.

When it faded, Jesse's eyes opened to the size of golf-balls and his jaw dropped. Allie was wearing a dark green suit, made from tight leather. Her feet were clad in combat boots, with strangely complimented the dark-green, skin tight pants covering her legs. A black belt hung loosely on her waist, with compartments that held spare arrowheads.

The middle of her stomach was exposed, while her upper torso was clad in the same leather. Her sleeves cut off near the wrists, and her gloved hands allowed the ends of her fingers to slip out freely. A simple domino mask covered her eyes, just like the one that Green Arrow had worn. She also had a hood coming off the back of the shirt, which she liked. She pulled the hood up and grinned. "Jesse, you're drooling."

"I – uh, I like the costume." Jesse stuttered, admiring how the leather showed off her every curve.

"Hold on, where'd my arrows go?" Allie realized her quiver had disappeared. She felt her back and found that there was a small compartment built into the back of the shirt, but was surprised to find that it somehow held all of her arrows.

"That's an Atlantean fabric. It looks like it isn't even there, but that compartment could probably hold around five hundred arrows. Plus, it's much more comfortable than lugging around a quiver." Flo explained quickly.

Then there was a blue flash from the corner, and they all looked over to see Quinton had used one of the devices. He now wore a blue trench coat, had black hair, and appeared to have no face, just like The Question.

"I totally wanted this." Quinton turned around, apparently happy with the results. But he slid his orange-tinted sunglasses back onto his face, even though his eyes were not visible. "The shades stay."

"Here, Q. If we fight, you might want this too." Flo tossed him a gauntlet, and when he put it on, he was able to create a solid-water sword in his hand!

"I like this too." Quinton said, still showing almost no emotion.

Tommy and Ricochet stepped into the doorway, eyeing the group strangely.

"This is why you're taking so long? You're all playing dress up?" Ricochet said in annoyed tone.

"Tommy, you've got to try this man." Jesse held up the final chest plate, offering it to Tommy, who was leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"No tights. No capes." Tommy replied solemnly. He was now wearing a black t-shirt he had found, and the look on his face said that he was pleased with it.

"Whatever." Jesse put the chest plate back and turned to admire Allie's suit more. "So what happened to our regular clothes?"

"You will revert back to your normal outfit when you deactivate the device. You can do that with a simple thought." Flo answered.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to conceal our identities." Ricochet decided. "Speaking of which, we'll all be assigned code names." He tossed each of them a COM Link. "If they hack into our frequency, which they probably will, then we don't want to give away our real names."

"Code names?" Jesse smiled. "Flash is overused, but I do want to go with a family name. Call me Impulse."

"Impulse?" Tommy shot Jesse a glare. "How about some impulse control, first?"

"You're just jealous because of my hot spandex-ass."

"Shut up Jesse." Tommy looked to Allie. "What about you?"

"Quiver." She replied immediately. "How about you, Sunshine?" She asked Tommy.

"I can think of a few names for him." Jesse smiled, mentally reciting every dirty word he could think of.

"Knight." Tommy decided. "For lack of anything better, I'll go by Knight."

"Obviously, I'll be called Ricochet." Ricochet chimed in.

"Since Flo isn't going to the island with us, that just leaves you, Quinton. What do you think for a code name?" Allie asked.

"The Answer."

"What?" Jesse smirked.

"The Answer. That's my code name." Quinton told him.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Jesse laughed.

"I've got to admit, it isn't the most creative name in the world, Q." Allie agreed.

"Well I like it. Call me The Answer."

"Ok, but... let's keep looking for something better." Allie chuckled.

"So it's settled then." Tommy nodded. "I'm Knight, Allie is Quiver, Jesse is Impulse, and Q is Answer. Now, let's go over the plan."

**(Bermuda Triangle – Three Hours Later)**

The submarine approached the Bermuda Triangle swiftly. "Almost there." Flo announced. An electric fence came into view, blocking them off from the triangle.

"An electric fence? I thought Apokolips would have some more high-tech security in a place like this." Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"They probably didn't anyone would ever be stupid enough to break in here." Quinton reasoned.

"Don't be fooled though, that fence puts off enough voltage to fry a Kryptonian." Flo warned.

"So who's up first? One of us has to take out that fence." Ricochet said.

"I'll do it." Quinton stepped forward. "I really want to test this gauntlet out."

"Ok, good luck Q." Allie said as Quinton turned on his COM Link.

"Remember, refer to me as Answer while communicating from here on out."

"Ok, good luck… A?" Allie shrugged.

Quinton got dressed in one of the diving suits available in the sub, and made sure his oxygen tank was full. "Now, how do I-" Before he had even finished his sentence, he was sucked into the floor of the submarine and spat out into the waters.

"What the hell was that?" Tommy shot Flo a glance.

"This ship, it's practically organic. I can do that sort of thing." Flo said as if it were no big deal.

Quinton drifted toward the fence, and activated the Atlantean gauntlet on his arm. The hard-liquid sword shot out from his wrist.

"Alright Answer," Ricochet said through the COM Link, "Be careful. Flo said there's some pretty vicious Apokoliptian sea life around here."

"I'm on the lookout." Quinton, or Answer, slashed the fence, creating a gap big enough for him to swim through. Once on the other side, he placed a device from Tommy's utility belt onto the fence that caused the flow of electricity to go nuts, eventually shorting out the fence altogether. "We're in." He said through the COM Link.

"And this as far as I go." Flo said, revealing more diving suits for the others to use. "Good luck."

Suddenly, the entire ship rocked violently, and the lights began to flicker. "What the-" Tommy grabbed the wall to keep from falling down.

"What's going on?" Jesse shouted, taking cover as the consol began to short out.

Flo activated the cameras outside the sub, revealing that a horde of energy leeches had latched onto the vessel, and were siphoning out all of the power!

"Energy leeches! They're Apokoliptian." She shouted.

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that." Tommy struggled to get his balance in the rocking submarine. "How do we kill them?"

"I'm on it." Answer's voice came through their COM Links. Answer had now morphed the gauntlet into a crossbow, and was firing off liquid-electrical bolts, killing as many leeches as he could, but there were a lot of them.

The ship started to descend, and went crashing into the fence! Some of the leeches started jamming holes into the sub, allowing gallons of water to rush in! "That's bad!" Jesse began zooming around, trying to plug all the leaks and failing miserably.

"We have to bail, now." Tommy looked to Flo. "That includes you."

Tommy, Ricochet, Allie, and Jesse all grabbed diving suits and got into them as quickly as possible, the water already up to their waists. They then smashed the escape hatch on the sub open, and spilled out into the water. Energy leeches began jumping onto their suits.

"Let's see how much energy these things can take!" Tommy grabbed onto the electric fence, which was now starting to come back online. A surge of electricity ripped through the suit, and he was thankful that it was composed mostly of thick rubber. The energy leeches siphoned off the massive amounts of voltage, and eventually overloaded, exploding into globs of blood!

The others did the same and grabbed the fence, frying the leeches. They then moved through the gap Answer had made, followed by a reluctant Flo.

"Quick, lets get to the caves before something bigger shows up." Ricochet instructed.

"You have no right to be giving orders." Tommy barked. "We don't even know who you are!"

"I'm your ticket to survival, kid." Ricochet snapped back.

"We don't even know your real name! You just showed up out of the blue, and starting acting like you're in charge."

"Guys, this is not the time for an argument." Allie pleaded. "Seriously, lets find these caves, like, fast."

They swam swiftly through the waters, with Jesse trailing far behind, and moved toward the mass of rock before them that was Themyscira. From there, it was just a matter of finding the caves before something larger found them.

It was Flo who found an entrance, and the team swam in after her. From there, they swam a while further and then climbed up out of the water into a cavern. The catacombs beneath Themyscira.

"Amazing…" Allie muttered, looking around at the crystalline rock glistening around them.

"Everyone knows what to do?" Ricochet questioned.

"We went over the plan, didn't we?" Tommy snapped.

"Well since Flo is here, we need to change it." Ricochet kept his cool. "Just like before, Quiver and Answer, you two are with me. The three of us will take out the security system, while Knight, Impulse… and Flo, find their way to the memory core, using the catacombs as cover. Everybody got it?"

"Hold on, I don't think I should be sucked into this!" Flo argued.

"So you would rather stay here by yourself?" Jesse, or Impulse, inquired. Just then, a low growl erupted from the pool of water.

"Ah, ok. I guess I'll help you guys." Flo sighed in defeat. "But I want a code name, since you all have one."

"Fine. You're Aquagirl." Tommy said in annoyance.

"Aquagirl? No, that's boring! I was thinking something more like-"

"Ok, Aquagirl, you're with Knight and Impulse. Get moving." Ricochet instructed, before taking off with Quiver and Answer.

"I'm changing that name later, you know." Flo said in disgust.

"Don't care. Let's get moving, we have to find out how to get to the memory core." Tommy began trudging through the caves. Impulse and Aquagirl followed after him.

The two teams went separate ways. "Listen Flo," Jesse started, "If we run into any trouble, just stay behind me and I'll-"

"Not necessary." She interrupted.

"Huh?"

Flo closed her eyes, and suddenly a blue glow shone over her. Once it faded, she was clad in a heavy blue armor torso, with no sleeves. Her legs were now sheathed in silver armor, and strapped onto her back were a pair of Atlantean swords.

"I can handle myself." She said confidently.

"Well ok then."

**(Themyscira – Mountains)**

Ricochet, Answer and Quiver had exited the catacombs, and were now scaling up the mountainside. Ricochet was well ahead of the others, as he could just magnetize the rock and walk straight up the mountain. Answer had created a hard-water pickax from the gauntlet, and was using it to aid in his climb. And Quiver, or Allie, was using her arrows as picks to scale the rock.

"So Ricochet, Tommy had a point. We really don't know a thing about you." She called.

"You know everything you need to."

"How'd you get your powers?"

"Somehow."

"Well thanks for being so clear." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, the only thing you need to know about me is that we're on the same side. We stick together, we _might _survive."

"Not likely." Answer chimed in.

"That's how you lighten the mood." Allie said with sarcasm.

"Well statistically, it's very unlikely that we'll even survive this little venture. Speaking of which, how on Earth have we not been caught scaling this mountain?"

"Because Apokolips knows that we planned on coming here. But they didn't know about Flo, and that was our advantage." Ricochet explained. "They probably have all of their security stationed on the borders of the island, waiting for us to show up overseas."

After about a half hour of climbing, they reached a plateau. From there, they could see the control tower not too far off. Allie looked through the scope on her bow, zooming in on the area. "Ricochet was right. There are tons of soldiers along the shoreline. The tower is being patrolled pretty heavily, but if we go in from above we shouldn't have any trouble." She said.

Quiver then loaded a grapple arrow into the bow, and fired with pinpoint accuracy. The arrow drove into the top of the control tower, leaving a thick black cable behind it. She attached the back end of the cable to a large rock, and then grabbed onto it, sliding off toward the tower!

"That girl is insane." Ricochet laughed, grabbing the cable and following her lead.

"I hate being the smart one." Answer shook his head and followed them.

They landed on top of the tower, on a glass window. Quinton created a glass cutter from the gauntlet, and cut out a circle large enough for them to drop through. They descended into a hallway, where Ricochet immediately fired off an EMP to blind the cameras. Two parademons came around the corner, and Quiver swiftly pumped two arrows into their chests. They took off toward the control room.

"Those parademons had heartbeat monitors equipped into their armor. It won't be long now until the others are alerted. We have to move fast." Ricochet warned.

"Heartbeat monitors? Why didn't you warn me?" Quiver demanded.

"Well in my defense, you really didn't give me a whole lot of time."

They reached a heavy steel door, but Ricochet found that the keycards didn't work. "Crap. Those two weren't authorized to enter this room."

"So how are we supposed to get in?" Their faceless teammate asked.

"You know, for somebody called The Answer, you sure ask a lot of questions." Quiver smiled.

"I've got a way in, but it's not too subtle. Stand back." Ricochet placed his hands flat against the door, and a powerful magnetic surge through the metal, blasting straight off of the wall! Allie took out the guards in the control room with a few well aimed arrows, and Answer took to the control panel. After several minutes, he stepped back in triumph.

"Security is on a two hour loop. That leaves us two hours to get into the memory core, and then get off the island."

"Can't you get us anymore time than that?" Ricochet pleaded.

"Afraid not. It takes special authorization to go back any further."

"Ok, then I need you to do something else real quickly." Ricochet said hurriedly.

"What?"

"It takes a massive power source to keep the memory core running. And for that power source, they used… a person."

"A person?" Quiver was confused.

"Yeah, you would call him a League Kid. He's the grandson of Black Lightning."

"What? Are you serious?" Quiver was astounded.

"Yeah. Black Lightning had two daughters; they went by the names Thunder and Lightning. Lightning had a son, who inherited some pretty intense electrical powers. Apokolips took him when he was a toddler, started using him as a big battery for the island."

"And, you want me to try and free him?" Answer asked quizzically.

"From what I've heard, if we want a distraction, then we want this guy loose. Can you create a short out in the power grid, even for a second?"

"I can try." Answer went to work on the control panel. After about a minute, he stood up. "I think I did something, but I'm not sure if it worked or-"

Suddenly there was a massive explosion in the distance, and a blue flash illuminated the island for a moment. "Yeah." Ricochet half-chuckled. "It worked."

**(Themyscira – Central Power Grid – A few seconds earlier)**

Ethan Pierce sat hooked up to the power chamber, having energy siphoned off from him. Just like every day. He wasn't even fed… he didn't have to be. As long as he was on a full charge, his body was self sustaining. And they kept him fully charged at all times. If he ever got loose, he would prove that to be their biggest mistake.

Suddenly, there was a flux in the energy flow, a faint shortage. And that was all Ethan needed. He took advantage of his second of freedom from the battery, and released a massive burst of energy, blasting away the container holding him. He leapt out into the room, ready for warfare.

A group of drones rushed in. He waited until they were in range, and then drained them of all their electrical energy, absorbing it into his body. The drones fell to the floor in a heap. Ethan's eyes glowed blue with power. "Oh yeah." He released a wave of power and destroyed the wall, leaping out onto the island. A group of choppers were immediately on his tail. He blasted them out of the sky with little difficulty.

Using the electricity to fuel his strength and speed, Ethan blurred over to a parademon and in one thundering punch, shattered its armor.

"On full power, I'm invincible!" Ethan announced as a hail of bullet fire rained down upon him. He put up a field of electricity around him, disintegrating the bullets as they neared him. More and more soldiers were rushing in to fight him.

Ethan raised his hand and drained all of the electricity from a fallen aircraft, using it to create a lightning sword, and slashed a group of drones in half!

"Come on! I can do this all night!" Ethan screamed as more soldiers rushed in from the sure to combat him.

It began to rain. There was a storm rolling in. "Perfect." Ethan smiled. He raised his hand into the air, and discharged nearly all of his electrical energy into the sky. It fused itself with the natural static in the clouds, and then came down in a massive blast of lightning more powerful than anything nature could ever produce on its own. The blast struck the ground with immeasurable force, blasting away thousands of oncoming soldiers. When the smoke cleared, the battlefield was little more than a scorched crater.

Ethan walked toward one of the few living soldiers, a human in Apokoliptian battle armor, who had chosen to side with Apokolips during the invasion. These soldiers were considered the lowest ranking in Darkseid's entire army, and were usually thrown into the front lines for no other purpose than to take on the ammunition.

"P – please, don't hurt me." The man choked out. Ethan grabbed him by the throat.

"When's the next ship off of Themyscira?" He demanded.

"We, we don't send ships off the island." The soldier stammered.

"Don't lie to me. You feed your troops somehow, and we all know nothing edible grows here anymore. Now I'll ask you nicely one last time, where is the ship?"

"You think you can intimidate me?" The man laughed. "Darkseid is far more terrifying, than a punk with a temper. You'll get nothing out of me."

"Fine. I'll have to get information the messier way." Ethan touched man's head, and used his powers to access the electrical impulses in his brain! By doing this, Ethan could literally absorb the man's thoughts! He saw images of crates being loaded onto an Apokoliptian warship on the southern docks. "Thanks." Ethan tossed the brain-scrambled soldier onto the ground.

Ethan's lower body then erupted into electricity, and he took off in a flash of lightning.

**(Themyscira – Main Building)**

"What's going on?" Deathstroke demanded after the series of enormous explosions.

"Sir, it seems the enemy has somehow infiltrated the island. They released Ethan Pierce." A human soldier reported.

"Clever of them. Ethan will tear the entire island apart if allowed to remain free. Deploy our secret weapon against him, take him down as soon as possible."

"And what of the others sir?"

"Finding them shouldn't be hard. After all, we know what they want." Deathstroke turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you headed sir?"

"Where else? The memory core."

**(Themyscira – Memory Core Building)**

Tommy got off of the COM Link. "That was Ricochet. The security is down."

"And what's with all the crazy explosions all the sudden?" Impulse asked.

"He said that was our distraction, I'm not sure what he meant exactly. The point is, we can move in now." He looked up onto the building from the catacombs. "Flo, if you would please…?"

"On it." Flo began focusing hard, manipulating the water vapor in the air. She created a thick fog that rolled over the heavily guarded building. The fog almost completely blinded the guards.

"Go!" As soon as Tommy said it, Jesse/Impulse zoomed out toward the building. He began blurring by and striking down guards in a split second. Tommy moved in as well, coming in from behind and taking them stealthily. Flo did the same, using her Atlantean weaponry to shock the guards to sleep. Within seconds they had cleared all of the security on one side of the building.

"Now to get in." Tommy started placing C4 on the walls of the building.

"Dude, are you sure that's a good idea?" Impulse asked with uncertainty.

"They already know we're here, and they know what we want. So there's really no use trying to hide anymore." Tommy reasoned.

"Yeah, but an explosion? That'll take away what little stealth we have left."

"Jesse, I know what I'm doing, alright?"

"You say, but I think you're just over anxious to find out who mommy and daddy are."

"Jesse, shut up! You think I haven't thought this out?"

"Just hold on a second, ok Tommy? I'll run around back and try to find a quieter way in."

"Fine. Hurry."

"I always do." Jesse was gone in the blink of an eye. He ran around the back of the building, moving too fast for the guards to notice, especially in the fog. He looked around carefully for an entrance they could use, when disaster struck. He hit a trip wire, and a blaze of fire erupted on both sides!

Impulse leapt out of the way of the trap, and immediately there was laser fire, which he barely avoided even with his superhuman reflexes. A tazer hit him in the back, and he crumpled to the ground.

"I figured you would be the one to spring a trap. You can always pick the idiot out of the group." Deathstroke said tauntingly, coming into view behind the fallen speedster. He pulled out a gun and aimed at Jesse's head. "What I didn't expect was for you to be alone. Priceless, I can pick you off one at a time!"

A baterang sailed out, and slashed the gun out of his hand at the last moment. Deathstroke looked over and was greeted by a kick in the face by Tommy! "Nice going West! You blew our cover the first chance you got!"

"Don't act all high and mighty, Tommy. You were about to blow up the damn wall."

"Guards! Kill them all!" Deathstroke ordered, but nothing happened.

The fog began to clear, and he saw that all of the guards had been taken down by Flo, or Aquagirl, who stood triumphantly with her arms folded. "Weren't expecting me, were you?"

"So you had a little trick up your sleeve…" Deathstroke stood slowly. "An ace in the hole, I suppose. But an ace doesn't make a whole deck." Deathstroke pushed a simple button, and immediately choppers started flying toward the area. "I have an army at my disposal, I suggest you fold."

"Somebody hit this guy please? I'm getting sick of the card game references." Impulse said irritably.

"Happy to!" Tommy attacked with his knife.

"Really? You're trying that strategy again?" Deathstroke laughed, drawing a new machete.

"Nope! I learn from my mistakes!" Tommy shouted, and when Deathstroke tried to counter, he slipped on a patch of ice beneath him! Flo had frozen the water beneath his feet, causing him to lose his footing when he tried to swing at Tommy.

That left Tommy with a clear shot, and he punched the villain hard in the gut before twisting his arm and smashing his face into a wall! Deathstroke stumbled back, his mask cracked, and was immediately hit with a torrent of water from Flo!

This disoriented him to where Impulse could come around back and kangaroo kick him straight into another blow to the throat from Tommy. Deathstroke was then hit with a barrage of punches from Impulse, finding himself unable to react. He fell to the ground.

"What was that about your reflexes being faster than mine?" Impulse laughed.

Deathstroke swiftly tried to get up, only to find that Flo had frozen his arms and legs to the ground!

"You little bit-" Before Deathstroke could finish his sentence, Flo kicked him in the face, knocking his mask off.

"What your language." She smiled.

Impulse picked up the mask. "Sweet, a souvenir."

Then an ax came sailing through the air, and barely missed his head! The three young heroes looked up to see a group of seven women standing on top of the building, looking down on them hatefully.

"Who are they?" Tommy asked, readying his knife.

"The Female Furies. Darkseid's elite guard. They're bad news." Jesse said, taking a step back.

"That's right!" The largest one yelled. "The name's Stompa!"

"I'm Exploda." A fiery red-headed girl said, holding a flaming ax. "We're the two veterans of the team. The rest are newer, but assuredly deadly."

"I know this is unbelievable coming from me, but those women are not attractive at all." Impulse whispered.

"Not a good time Jesse." Tommy snapped. Stompa leapt down at them, and landed with a thundering force that blew them all back. Exploda launched a flaming grenade of some sort toward them, and they had to scatter to avoid the blast. The rest of the Furies attacked, and Tommy quickly realized that they were really, really tough.

Just as one was about to decapitate him with a sword, a boxing glove arrow ripped out and struck her in the side of the head!

Ricochet, Quiver and Answer arrived on the scene. "Looks like one hell of a party going on down here." Quiver knocked another arrow.

Stompa charged at her. Allie shot an arrow straight toward her, and the arrow morphed into a giant blue fist! It hit Stompa with a surge of electricity, blowing her back several feet.

"What was that?" Answer asked in astonishment.

"I tricked out some of my arrows with that Atlantean tech on the sub." Quiver smiled.

She moved down and kicked one of the Furies in the mouth before striking another down with a sonic scream.

Then the Furies began to retake the battle, beating the team down with well coordinated attacks.

A masked Fury whipped out a series of shuriken at Answer. Flo jumped in the way, and the shuriken pierced into her arm.

"That had to hurt." Answer said.

"Not too bad. Atlantean skin is really dense." Flo said, pulling the shuriken out.

"But those blades were covered in poison." The masked Fury said triumphantly.

"I'm immune to most kinds of poisons." Flo retorted.

"Lets test that, shall we?" The girl whipped out more shuriken and continued her onslaught.

Things were already looking grim for the team, the Furies were beating them all down violently, shouting orders to each other in some sort of alien language.

"Let me try something…" Allie muttered. She let out a faint sonic scream, not even enough to be heard, but tried to manipulate the sound waves in the air, as she had done to shield her friends from the scream when they fought the Hellhounds.

Sure enough, the Furies started to not hear each other speak! Allie was blocking out the sound!

Then the Furies started taking more hits, unable to communicate now. Then Allie decided to really put her abilities to the test. She tried to mimic Stompa's voice, and sent a fake order to Exploda to attack behind her immediately. Exploda whipped around, and slashed down another Fury!

"Awesome!" Allie cheered, before a powerful grip lifted her up by the hair.

"Clever, aren't you little one?" Stompa said, holding Allie like she weighed nothing at all. "We could use a Fury like you. We lost our archer during the invasion."

"Not a chance lady." Allie let out a sonic scream into Stompa's face from point blank range, knocking her back!

"Tommy! Get down to the memory core! Now!" Ricochet shouted.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tommy yelled.

"You got a better idea?"

"I'm going." Tommy muttered. He set off the C4 and blasted away the wall, moving into the building. He motioned for Answer to follow, knowing he would need help hacking the system.

The two of them sprinted into the elevator, headed for the memory core while the others kept the Furies busy.

Answer slumped against the glass weakly, and Tommy noticed that one of the poisoned shuriken had pierced his arm!

"Oh no…" Tommy helped him stand. "Come on Q, stay with me. I need you."

The elevator stopped on the bottom floor, and Tommy helped the faceless hero move into the room. In the center, was a massive blue orb.

"The memory core." Answer said weakly.

"Ok, how do I use it?" Tommy asked.

"L- Looks like a DNA system… imprint your DNA into the system, and then just ask it anything."

"What? Like, put my hair on it or something?"

"Pretty much."

Suddenly a bullet struck Answer in the back of the leg, putting him out. Tommy whipped around and slashed another bullet out of the air with his knife, only to get a punch in the face from Deathstroke.

"I have the most advanced thought process, out of any other human mind!" Deathstroke roared. "Did you really think, I didn't know you would come down here?" He tossed away the gun. "Well now, you won't leave!"

Now that his mask was gone, Tommy noticed the massive scar on his face. "No wonder you kept that covered." Tommy mocked. In a flash, Deathstroke kicked him in the throat, knocking him down.

"Arrogant little prick!" Deathstroke stomped Tommy's hand, feeling the bone crunch. Tommy growled in pain, but still refused to scream. The assassin kicked Tommy in the ribs a few times, before striking him in the back of the neck. Tommy planted on the ground with a thud. Deathstroke lifted him up by the hair. He slammed Tommy violently into the glass around the dome, and squeezed so hard around his neck that his own hand started to bleed.

"You need a haircut, punk." Deathstroke held his machete at Tommy's throat. "How about if it starts just below the chin? Maybe that will finally make you scream!"

Tommy reached around Deathstroke's hand, trying to pry it off of his throat. "You screwed up." He gasped.

"How so, kid?" Deathstroke growled, pressing the blade against Tommy's flesh.

"Because now, I got your DNA." Tommy moved his hand off, covered in Deathstroke's blood! He placed it onto the DNA-Recognizing orb.

** "DNA Catalogued: Wilson Slade." **An automated voice announced.

"Dump – all – memory." Tommy ordered.

**"Confirmed. Beginning Memory Dump." **

Suddenly, all of the information in the memory core started funneling into Deathstroke's mind, overloading his thought process. It quickly became more than the assassin could possibly take. Deathstroke stumbled back and shrieked, veins bulging out of his head.

His eyes began to roll like a slot machine, and he started to foam at the mouth. Deathstroke fell limply to the ground, his brain literally fried.

"Good riddance, asswipe." Tommy touched the core.

**"DNA Catalogued: Name Unavailable." **

"History, of Tommy Gray." Tommy huffed.

**"Confirmed." **

**(Inside Memory Core)**

Suddenly Tommy's subconscious was absorbed into the core. He was surrounded by a blue light, the sound of endless knowledge ringing in his ears.

**"Tommy Gray: Back story. Real name is Thomas Grayson. Legally, he is the son of Dick Grayson. But biologically, he has two fathers."**

"What…" Tommy's eyes opened wide, he was totally confused.

**"Thomas Grayson was conceived during the invasion. Bruce Wayne, alias: Batman, knew that Earth was fighting a losing battle. In secrecy, Bruce Wayne modified Richard Grayson's reproductive material through a series of shots while he was hospitalized. **

**Bruce had combined his own DNA with that of Richard Grayson's, when Thomas Grayson was conceived. As a result, Thomas Grayson is the son of both Richard Grayson, and Bruce Wayne. **

**He was engineered this way, because Bruce Wayne sought to create the perfect Batman."**

"Oh my God…" Tommy looked at his shaky hands, shocked by the information.

**"Mother was Donna Grayson. She never found out about what Bruce Wayne had done. When Richard Grayson found out, he was enraged. He lashed out at Bruce, and forbade him to ever see Thomas. **

**On his deathbed, Richard wished that Thomas's name be shortened to Tommy Gray, and that he never found out who is parents were, or how he had been created. He never wanted his son to find out who he really was, or what he was intended to do.**

**Thomas Grayson, shortened to Tommy Gray, was created to become the perfect Batman, sharing the traits of both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. The perfect Batman, who would potentially bring a downfall to Apokolips. That was Bruce Wayne's goal. Richard Grayson's goal was to make sure, that his son never even knew. **

**That is currently all the information on record, for subject: Tommy Gray." **

The voice finished speaking. "The perfect Batman…" Tommy muttered. "That was why Dinah would never tell me who my parents were. Bruce Wayne… he tampered with my DNA? I'm supposed to be like… a hybrid between him and Dick Grayson…" Tommy was pale, uncertain of what to think. "And my mother… Donna Grayson… Donna Troy maybe?" Everything was rushing through Tommy's head at a million miles an hour.

"Created to potentially bring a downfall to Apokolips…" He repeated. "The perfect Batman."

**(Real World – Memory Core Building)**

The image faded away, and Tommy was back in the room, completely stunned. He turned slowly, and about a hundred guns were aimed at him. He was surrounded by soldiers.

All of his friends were unconscious, and bound in chains. The Furies had taken them down.

A few more soldiers showed up, carrying an unconscious African-American kid, who was soaking wet. They had apparently subdued Ethan Pierce.

Having no other option, Tommy put his hands up. "I surrender."

**Well, there was the big reveal! Really long chapter though, I'll be sure to make the next one a little shorter. **

**Speaking of the next chapter, I introduce a new character who I'm sure some of you have been waiting to see… and remember the more reviews I get, the faster I update!**


	6. Bloodsport

**Ok, so this chapter turned out a lot longer than I wanted it to. I'm serious this time, chapter seven WILL be significantly shorter.**

**Parts of this chapter seem rushed to me, so let me know what you think.**

Chapter Six: Bloodsport

Tommy awoke slowly, his vision blurring back into focus after several minutes. "Where am I…?" His senses realigned, and Tommy realized that he was floating. He was in some sort of glass tank, filled with an odd green fluid. A breathing apparatus was fitted around his mouth, allowing him to breathe.

There was suddenly a loud mechanical noise, and the fluid all drained out of the tank. Then the glass slid open, and Tommy stumbled out, falling on his hands and knees into a small white room. He was cold, and realized for the first time that he was without clothing.

A single shadow flashed across the floor, from the other side of the room. Tommy glanced over and saw that he was not alone in the room. Standing with perfect posture, was a man in white robes with tight brown skin and a little goat-beard. And he had horns… huge horns jutting out from the sides of his forehead.

"You're awake." The goat-man said.

"Tell me something I don't know." Tommy stood up. "Starting with, what is this place?"

"You will find your clothing inside of this drawer." The goat-man held out his hand, and a drawer pulled out of the wall.

"You didn't answer my question." Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Where the hell am I?"

"This is the Rejuvenation Room."

"Rejuvenation? What is that supposed to mean?"

"All of your wounds have been healed. Haven't you noticed it?"

Tommy looked down at his arms, and realized that there wasn't a scratch on his body. Even the bullet wound on his shoulder had vanished. There was nothing but a scar.

"We could have removed the scars too, but I had a feeling you would want to keep them. A sign of past battles, if you will."

"Yeah… uh, thanks." Tommy pulled on his pants. "But why heal me?"

"We want you in perfect condition for the games."

"Games?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Exit this door and you will rejoin your friends." The goat-man said quickly.

"Door?" Tommy looked around the completely square room. There appeared to be no exit. "What door?"

The goat-man waved his hand again, and a series of squares slid open on the wall behind Tommy.

"Oh, that door." Tommy slid on the black t-shirt and began to exit uncomfortably, not sure of what hellish place he would walk out into.

"Oh, and my name is Dubbilex, by the way." The goat man said.

"Dubbilex?" Tommy turned around, but he was already gone. "Weird." Tommy shook his head. He stepped out of the Rejuvenation Room, and the tiles slid shut behind him.

He was now standing in a dark, empty hallway. "Doesn't look like a prison. So… what is this place?" Tommy looked around awkwardly.

"**Thomas Grayson." **An automated voice suddenly barked. Tommy spun around to see two red humanoid drones staring him down.

"Uh… it's Tommy." He regained his composure, and reached for his knife, but realized that it wasn't there. Neither was the utility belt. "Where's my knife?"

"**Come with us immediately." **They demanded.

"I said, where's my knife?"

"**All weapons have been confiscated. Come with us immediately. If you refuse to cooperate, you will be executed."**

"Well give me my damn knife, and I might be a little more cooperative." Tommy clenched his fists.

**"Non-Cooperation will not be tolerated. Lethal force authorized." **The drone's withdrew long steel lances, the tips surging with electricity.

"Alright…" Tommy backed up and prepared for a fight.

"Stop!" A baritone voice suddenly rang out, sounding very demanding. Tommy looked passed the drones and saw a human approaching.

He was probably close to Tommy's age, maybe a little younger. But he looked tough… dangerously tough. He had short, almost whitish hair and a piercing gaze. His eyes were a light brown, and looked light and thoughtful. He was tall, and had an impressive build. He wore a white t-shirt and faded jeans, and his arms were covered in scars. Deep scars that had clearly come from severe wounds.

"I'm here to pick up the new guy." He said coolly.

**"We were not informed of this." **A drone objected.

"Oh, do you have a problem with it? Because, you could always take it up with the boss."

The drones hesitated for a moment. **"Carry on." **They said in unison before disappearing down the hall.

"Heh." The guy smiled. "They're programmed with enough reasoning software that they know when they're in danger, but not enough that they can call a bluff."

"Who are you?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"The name's Troy. I'm the guy who just saved your ass from electrocution."

"Well in that case, nice to meet you." Tommy lightened up a little. "What is this place?"

"Come on." Troy started walking down the hall.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere where we aren't in danger of being shocked to death."

"Sounds good to me so far."

They moved a bit further down the hallway, and reached a large door. "So seriously, what's going on? This place seems a little too nice to be an Apokoliptian prison." Tommy inquired.

"You're right. This is not a prison. But it sure as hell isn't nice, either." Troy said sighed.

"What does that mean? It seems like nobody here will give me a straight answer!"

"It's best that you see for yourself." Troy pushed open the door, and inside was what looked like a massive gymnasium. It was filled with thousands of beings, ranging from humans to grotesque alien figures. They paraded around the room violently, while drones lined the walls, ready to crush any uprising that may spring up.

"What is all this?" Tommy looked over the swarm of angry looking life forms.

"Welcome to Warworld."

"Warworld? What's that?"

"You ever heard of Mongul?"

"Um… I think so. I pounded him in the combat simulator a couple times. Big yellow guy, right?"

"Yeah. He commands Warworld, basically a place where people fight to the death for the entertainment of bloodthirsty spectators. During the invasion, Mongul sided with Apokolips out of cowardice. They turned Warworld into what they call and alternative prison."

"Alternative prison? Meaning…?"

"It holds the prisoners who are harder to contain. Like you."

"And you?" Tommy guessed.

"Bingo. People like us, the ones who probably bust out of a prison at some point, come here and fight to the death for entertainment."

"Survival of the fittest." Tommy stated.

"More like a death penalty with an admission fee."

The two of them stepped into the room, and strangely, many of the prisoners seemed to clear a path for them.

"What's the deal?" Tommy asked, realizing this.

"It's for me, not you." Troy smiled. "I happen to be undefeated in the arena."

"You?" Tommy was surprised. He knew that Troy looked tough, but there were some monstrous creatures there. Ones that looked like they'd eat Troy for breakfast.

"I'm a lot stronger than I look." Troy grinned. "You want to see your friends? Assuming they're still alive?"

"Assuming? I don't like the sound of that."

"Fresh meat usually doesn't last long around here, if you know what I mean. You're lucky I picked you up when I did." Troy walked ahead a bit, and Tommy noticed a small metal device on the back of his neck.

"What the…?" Tommy muttered, but decided not to ask about it. He looked around and saw that everyone was wearing the devices, right on the back of their necks. "Wait a minute-" Tommy reached his hand back, and sure enough, he felt metal on the skin of his neck. "Hey Troy, what are these things?"

"Those…" Troy suddenly sounded distant. "They're just to keep things interesting."

"How so?"

"You'll find out. Come on; let's see if your friends have been murdered yet." Troy quickly changed the subject. Tommy didn't argue, he was eager to see a familiar face.

They walked to the corner of the room, and his prayers were answered. Leaned against a wall was Ricochet. For the first time since Tommy had known him, his mask was off. He was a handsome guy, with an intelligent glow to his brown eyes, complimenting his tanned skin and well-defined facial features. But he had an odd scar, running down one cheek. Everyone seemed to have scars.

With him was Flo, who was sitting cross-legged in a corner with her eyes closed, as if she were trying to keep calm. And then there was Jesse, pacing back and forth energetically. He saw Tommy first.

"Finally! He's out!" The speedster shouted.

"Hey Tommy." Flo said, not even bothering to look up.

"Glad you're alive." Ricochet said uneasily.

"Wish I could say the same to you." Tommy shot him a glare. "Where are Quinton and Allie?"

"Q is still in the Rejuvenation Chambers. His injuries were pretty bad. Plus he got infected with that poison, so it could be a few hours yet until he's out." Flo explained.

"And what about Allie?" Tommy took a step forward.

"Well, we don't know." Jesse said uncomfortably.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"None of us have seen her." Ricochet sighed.

"Her injuries weren't too bad, from what I remember. It seems like she would be out by now if she were here." Flo reasoned.

"Well where else would she be?" Jesse chimed.

"It would make sense if they wanted to separate us. But why only Allie?" Flo muttered.

"I agree it's bothersome, but there are other things we need to think about right now." Ricochet looked to Tommy. "So what'd you learn in the Memory Core?" Ricochet asked, eager for information.

"It, um…" Tommy remembered the shocking news he had gotten. He was the son of Donna Grayson… Dick Grayson… _and _Bruce Wayne. It was really bothering him, though he wasn't entirely sure why. He just didn't like it. "It's nothing."

"Nothing? We didn't get arrested over nothing. So again, what did you learn?" Ricochet was suddenly very serious.

"Nothing that helps us, alright?" Tommy barked.

"No clue as to why Darkseid seems to almost fear you?" Flo asked hopefully.

"Huh…" Tommy sighed in defeat. "I'll tell you guys about it later, ok?"

"Wait, you guys went to the memory core?" Troy's voice broke in.

"That's how we wound up here." Tommy nodded. "What about you?"

"Me? I've been here as long as I can remember."

There was a sudden commotion on the other side of the room. The door slid open, and Ethan Pierce entered in, a triumphant smile on his face. His hair was wild an uneven, since he had spent so long as a battery for Themyscira.

"What are you freaks looking at?" Ethan barked when he noticed all eyes were on him.

**"Enter and avoid confrontation." **A drone ordered behind him.

"Hey, scrap heap, I don't take orders alright?"

At that point the drone struck Ethan down, knocking him into the room. Ethan stood up growling. "Not – a good – idea." He threatened.

The drone jabbed at him with its electrified lance. Ethan immediately absorbed the charge, using it to power himself up. He struck the drone and destroyed it in a bright electrical flash.

Suddenly the devices on the neck's of many of the inmates began to glow a bright yellow, and they seemed to become very animalistic… they attacked Ethan viciously.

"What the hell?" Tommy gaped.

"That's what I meant by 'interesting.' These devices on our necks, they trigger the chemical reactions in our brains that cause anger. Thus, we feel anger when they are activated." Troy said. "It's to make sure the fights in the arena stay intense. What you're seeing right now isn't even the highest setting. If it was set on red, they'd be eating each other's limbs right now."

"You want a piece of me?" Ethan screamed, blasting off bolts of electricity into the oncoming crowd.

"Why weren't we affected?" Ricochet asked.

"Because they want to make sure we die in the arena, for everyone to see. Humans aren't exactly popular around here." Troy explained.

Just as the bloodthirsty mob was about to reach Ethan, they all dropped to the ground screaming, and the devices made an odd beeping sound.

"And that is how they keep us in line. Those devices can also trigger pain receptors in the brain. At the highest setting, it could kill us instantly." Troy added.

A hail of water sprayed out from the sprinklers on the ceiling and doused Ethan. There was a bright electrical flare, and he shrieked, falling to the ground. The spark in his eyes died out. He sat on his hands and knees, gasping. The devices deactivated, and the inmates started to recover.

Ethan stood up slowly, and saw the group staring at him. "What the hell you looking at?"

"Calm down. We're on your side." Ricochet said.

"Um… are we? Because this dude is kind of scary." Jesse whispered.

"Nobody's on my side." Ethan grumbled, plopping against a wall. Soon all the inmates went about their regular business, which mainly involved beating each other senseless.

"Is this really what goes on here all day?" Jesse asked.

"Pretty much. Most of us get one arena match per day, unless you're an audience favorite like me, and then you average three per day." Troy said quickly.

"I thought you said humans weren't popular around here?" Tommy asked skeptically.

"They aren't. The crowd loves to see me almost die." Troy smiled. "But like I told you earlier, I'm undefeated."

A voice came up on a loudspeaker. **"Troy Prince, report to Arena A for you're next match."**

"Speak of the devil." Troy began walking toward the door, headed to his next match.

"Wait a minute…" Flo stopped him. "Your name is Troy Prince?"

"Technically it's Troy Wayne, but I go by my mother's maiden name. It sounds better to me."

Suddenly Tommy and Ricochet gasped, as the situation dawned on them. The only person who didn't realize it was Jesse. "What? What's going on?" The speedster asked in confusion.

"He's a League Kid." Tommy stepped forward. "His parents were Wonder Woman and Batman."

"Duh. It's about time you guys caught on." Troy grinned, heading out the door.

Tommy stood there stunned. More stunned than anyone else. Because if Troy was the son of Batman… that meant his father was Bruce Wayne… and in a weird way, that Troy and Tommy like, half brothers. Or considering the situation, maybe quarter brothers? Tommy couldn't decide.

His thoughts were interrupted by the loudspeaker voice again. "**In arena B, I need a new guy. Thomas Grayson." **

"Thomas Grayson…?" Jesse looked to Tommy. "Why does that remind me of your name?"

"Because it _is _my name. My real one." Tommy walked toward the door, on his way to his first arena match. And quite possibly his last.

**(Apokolips – Darkseid's Palace – Several Hours Earlier)**

"Lord Darkseid." Desaad bowed before his master. "The children were apprehended and sent to Warworld, as you instructed."

"Excellent." Darkseid acknowledged. "Were they able to access the memory core?"

"We believe so, my lord. But the information should prove useless to them now."

"I suppose so. Still, it would be unwise to discard the possibility that this… Thomas Grayson… is a threat."

"Then may I ask, my lord, why was he sent to Warworld? Would it not make more sense to simply execute him?"

"If only it were so simple. We could execute the boy, but that could be wasting a great opportunity."

"How so, my lord?"

"A game of chess has many pawns, Desaad. Some prove more useful than others, depending on their position." Darkseid looked to the hellish Apokoliptian sky. "And it appears that this pawn is in the perfect position to help me win the game."

**(Earth – Unknown Location)**

Allie suddenly shot awake as a searing pain rocketed through her body.

"That woke her up." A satisfied looking man said, pulling a hypodermic needle out of her arm. "Hello, dear."

"Who are you?" Allie demanded.

"Me? My name is Dr. Jeremiah Arkham. I'm Desaad's underling. And I was trained by both him and Granny Goodness in the art of torture." The doctor explained.

"Arkham…?" Allie recognized that name. "Wait, I know who you are! Before the invasion you were the head of Arkham Asylum!"

"Oh, for a time I was. But then I developed something you would call dissociative identity disorder. And in truth, I just couldn't stand playing the good doctor anymore. So donned this." Jeremiah Arkham drew a jet-black, skull shaped helmet, with hinged jaws and glowering red eyes. He put it on, and even his voice began to change. It became gruffer, darker. "Call me Black Mask, my dear."

"I remember now. My mom told me a little bit about you a few years back. You sided with Apokolips, and became Earth's head of torture and brainwashing." Allie realized.

"I prefer the term… reprogramming." He withdrew a large syringe, with a filthy needle. "You know, they once entrusted Dr. Jonathon Crane with this job. You would know him as the Scarecrow. But the thing about old Dr. Crane, is that he really doesn't care about the results, he just wants you to feel fear. So obviously, he produced less successful reprogrammings." Black Mask brought the needle into Allie's arm. "So Scarecrow was killed, and they put me in his place. I still play around with his fear gas quite a bit though, it is fun to watch."

"You're sick." Allie groaned, pain ripping through her from whatever he had just injected. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, and she bit down so hard that blood ran down her jaw. Finally she couldn't contain it anymore, and let out a cry. That gave her an idea. She tried to release a sonic scream. But as soon as she did, the table she was strapped to electrocuted her!

"That won't work, little birdie. The moment you try and use your sonics, that table will respond with a rather painful charge." Black Mask laughed sadistically. "Now, lets get started on your reprogramming."

"But why me? Are my friends here too?" Allie demanded, fighting back tears.

"No, they were sent to Warworld I'm afraid. You are here because Granny requested you specifically."

"But why?" Allie repeated.

"Because the Furies need an archer."

**(Warworld – Arena B)**

Tommy stepped out into the arena reluctantly. At least conditions here weren't nearly as bad as an Apokoliptian prison, but it was probably a bit more dangerous. Surrounding him was a bloodthirsty crowd of off-duty Apokoliptian soldiers. They were always the main spectators in Warworld, according to Troy. The actual citizens of Apokolips are completely beaten down and controlled, so obviously they aren't allowed to watch the battles. It's the soldiers who come to see blood at Warworld.

A large holographic image appeared in the middle of the arena, a bulky guy with yellow skin. Tommy recognized him from the Justice Cave combat simulators as Mongul. "On the left, we have a new contestant! The new, Dark Knight!" Mongul announced.

Suddenly the audience erupted in a shower of boos. Tommy heard an immeasurable amount of foul language flying his way. He clearly wasn't popular with the audience.

"And since he is a newcomer here, of course the Dark Knight will be fighting one of our veteran combatants. The former champion, Steppenwolf!" Mongul shouted. Then the audience cheered violently.

On the other side of the arena, an extremely muscular man appeared. He definitely wasn't human. His eyes were yellow, and he stood nearly eight feet tall! He held at his side a gigantic battle ax, stained with blood.

"Wonderful." Tommy muttered.

"And-" Mongul began, "Since none of us really want to see the Dark Knight come out of this alive, let's not give him a weapon!"

"This just keeps getting _better_." Tommy sighed, clenching his fists.

"Begin!" The hologram of Mongul disappeared.

Immediately, Steppenwolf charged with surprising speed. Tommy rolled out of the way of a slash from the ax, but was unable to avoid a punishing blow from Steppenwolf's free hand, blasting Tommy across the arena. The audience cheered as he streaked a trail of blood behind him.

Tommy stood up, quivering. That punch had probably been the equivalent of being hit by a speeding semi truck! Tommy wiped the blood from his mouth and then jumped to avoid another swing of the ax. He kicked Steppenwolf in the face, but this had little effect. Steppenwolf grabbed Tommy's leg and twisted it hard, whipping into the force field surrounding the arena. Tommy plopped to the ground again, his leg throbbing.

"Pathetic." Steppenwolf smiled and raised the ax, ready to decapitate Tommy! At the last second, Tommy spun around and kicked Steppenwolf in the knee as hard as he could, causing the ax-wielding goliath to stumble.

Tommy was thankful that the rage-transmitters had not been activated. Apparently this fight had been brutal enough so far to satisfy the audience. Tommy intended to keep it that way, because he had no desire to fight a raged-up Steppenwolf. Tommy roundhouse-kicked Steppenwolf in the neck, knocking him back.

Steppenwolf quickly rolled to his feet and swung the ax swiftly. A curved beam of red energy soared toward Tommy! He ducked to the left just in time, and the energy-blade slicked deeply into his upper arm. The blast struck the wall behind Tommy, and exploded into a fiery blast. He was extremely happy he had dodged.

"Impressive reflexes. Especially for a human." Steppenwolf smiled. "This may be more fun than I thought."

Tommy went on the offensive this time, charging Steppenwolf ferociously. As expected, Steppenwolf plunged the ax toward the oncoming attacker.

"You should really try changing your strategy." Tommy smiled and leapt back. The ax wedged itself deeply into the ground. Tommy then jumped up onto the handle of the ax, and stomped on Steppenwolf's wrist, forcing him to drop the weapon.

Tommy quickly jumped and landed behind the disoriented Steppenwolf, grabbing his arm and flinging the warrior across the arena!

Tommy then turned and grabbed the handle of the ax, trying to lift it. But he found that he could not.

"Stupid kid." Steppenwolf laughed. "No mere human can lift my weapon."

Tommy continued struggling, sweat running beading up on his brow. Veins were popping out of his arms, and he had clenched the handle so tightly that his palms began to bleed. And then, the ax raised up into the air. Tommy held the weapon triumphantly, still struggling to wield it.

"Impossible! That ax ways nearly a ton!" Steppenwolf said in awe.

Tommy swung the ax, releasing another band of energy that ripped into Steppenwolf's midriff! The warrior sailed across the arena and blasted hard into the force field surrounding them, bleeding from his chest and covered in soot.

"Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood!" The audience began cheering. They wanted Tommy to kill his opponent.

He walked over to Steppenwolf hesitantly, and raised the ax over his head. "Huh… no." Tommy sighed and threw the ax down. "I'm done!" He yelled.

"You fool!" Steppenwolf screamed. "Do you have any idea what you've-"

Suddenly the image of Mongul appeared again. "The boy thinks he is noble!" He announced mockingly. The audience laughed. "Let's show him what nobility gets people around here."

Suddenly another image appeared, this one was a large, brown planet. "This, is Steppenwolf's home planet!" Mongul announced. "Now, we'll let the Dark Knight see what happens when he is noble!" Suddenly the planet burst into flames, hit by some sort of laser.

"No!" Steppenwolf shrieked and grabbed Tommy. "You idiot! This isn't some damn movie, this is Warworld! We die, so our families can live!"

"I- I'm sorry-" Tommy gasped.

"Oh, you will be." Steppenwolf shoved him down and headed off toward the Rejuvenation Center.

Tommy was taken back to the holding room, where he rejoined the rest of the humans in the room, with the exception of Ethan. He still sat alone.

"I should have warned you." Troy said, coming back from his victory.

"Damn right you should have." Tommy glared at him. "I just exterminated a whole planet!"

"It wasn't your fault." Flo insisted. "You didn't know."

"That planet was probably under Apokoliptian rule anyway. Just about every planet is. You probably did those people a favor." Jesse offered.

"So…" Flo looked to Troy. "Does that mean, if we lose…?"

"You don't have to worry about Earth. It's too much of a prize to Darkseid; he wouldn't allow Mongul to destroy it. But nobody here would hesitate to kill you, either. If you lose a match, consider yourself dead."

The conversation was interrupted by footsteps approaching. The group looked to see Quinton nearing them, his hair a gingery orange once again. The orange sunglasses hid his purplish eyes.

"Bout' time." Jesse huffed.

"They have some impressive technology here." Quinton said in a tone that almost sounded excited. Then his expression turned serious, and he looked to Tommy. "What exactly did you get from the Memory Core?"

"Huh…" Tommy sighed. "Alright, it's kind of complicated."

"I'm all ears." Ricochet said quickly.

"Ok. So legally, my father was Richard Grayson. You know, the first Robin? Later became Nightwing?"

"Yes." Quinton nodded. "But judging by your tone of voice, I'm guessing it gets a lot more complicated than that."

"Oh yeah." Tommy nodded. "It said my mother was Donna Grayson, who I'm guessing is Donna Troy. But… biologically, I have a _second _father."

"What?" Flo raised an eyebrow.

"Bruce Wayne." Tommy looked to Troy, whose eyes opened wide. "I guess while Dick was hospitalized, Bruce gave him some extra shots without telling him what they really did. It was some sort of formula that like, temporarily altered his reproductive material… so when Donna became pregnant with me, it was actually the son of both Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne."

"What?" Flo repeated, this time sounding shocked.

"That's messed up." Jesse almost laughed.

"I guess he did it because he knew Earth was fighting a losing battle against Apokolips, and he wanted to create the perfect Batman."

"Bruce wanted a son. I wasn't born yet." Troy realized. "I'm only fifteen. The invasion lasted almost five years, before Earth officially lost. I was born in the last year of the invasion, not very long before my parents were killed." He looked to Tommy awkwardly. "Donna Troy was my mom's 'sister,' and we had like… half the same father, so what the hell does that make us?"

"They're like, cousin-half brothers." Quinton said in a confused tone.

"Either way, you were created for a purpose, Tommy." Ricochet chimed in.

"Yeah. The Memory Core said something like… I could potentially bring a downfall to Apokolips." Tommy nodded.

"Well then it's obvious!" Flo exclaimed.

"What's obvious?" Jesse inquired.

"Tommy's our leader." Flo said proudly, like it were the simplest thing in the world. "He has to be."

"Leader? I think there would have to be a team, first." The speedster pointed out.

"Oh come on, Jesse! We infiltrated the Memory Core! No one's ever done that before! So clearly we make a good team. We got caught because we didn't have a leader, nobody to pull us out of the situation. And now we do."

"Me?" Tommy actually laughed, and backed up a little. "Think about it a second, Flo. I left the Justice Cave because I was too stubborn to stay, and because of it Dinah got killed! After that we almost died more times than I can count, and _he _showed up!" Tommy pointed to Ricochet. "And all the sudden we were off to the Memory Core, to find out who _I _was! And now, we're here because of it!" Tommy turned and punched the wall.

"Tommy-" Jesse started, but was quickly cut off.

"And then within five minutes of being here, I screwed up and got a whole planet destroyed! And I'm supposed to be a leader?" Tommy blinked away a tear. "It seems like no matter what I do, people get hurt because of me. I'm not a leader, I'm a liability."

"Interesting…" Quinton said distantly.

"What?" Tommy demanded.

"That wall you punched is still in tact. Either you have excellent control over your enhanced strength, or none at all."

"Enhanced strength? Quinton what the hell are you talking about?"

"You really haven't noticed it? You must have inherited some Amazonian traits from your mother. Like superhuman reflexes and healing, for example."

"Q I don't have any of those things." Tommy protested.

"Dude, now that he mentions it, I think you do." Jesse chimed in. "Remember when we first met? You wanted to crash in the Batcave you busted some ribs, but then you slept for maybe an hour, and you seemed fine when you woke up. Normal people don't heal that fast."

"Normal people can't slash bullets out of the air with a knife, either. But I saw you do that back on Themyscira." Ricochet nodded. "Those are some intense reflexes."

"And you have exhibited feats of super strength before, Tommy. Even if you didn't realize it." Quinton stated.

"Yeah, like just a few minutes ago, when you were fighting Steppenwolf. You lifted his ax. That would be impossible for anybody with human-level strength." Troy agreed.

"Whatever. It's not important." Tommy looked off. "We need to get out of here somehow."

"Wish there was some water around here." Flo sighed.

"I know what you mean. This place is so packed I don't have any room to run." Jesse nodded.

"What about you?" Tommy looked to Ricochet. "Can't you use your powers to take out all these drones?"

"Nope. They took my equipment." Ricochet answered grimly.

"What does that have to with it?"

"I don't really have any powers, genius. It's all in the circuitry beneath the suit." Ricochet folded his arms behind his head and plopped against a wall.

"Wait, so all that magnetism stuff you do is because of technology?" Jesse realized.

"Yup. My real power is in the mind." Ricochet grinned. "I created the equipment a few years back."

"Wouldn't you have to be really smart to do that?" Flo blurted out. Ricochet glared at her. "I- I'm sorry, it's just that you don't strike me as the inventive type."

"I don't really show my intellect most of the time. I prefer to keep it under wraps, go with the flow." Ricochet shrugged. "In truth, I'm probably the smartest person here."

"Excuse me?" Quinton huffed.

"When it comes to science-stuff, I outshine you, Q." Ricochet laughed.

"Dreamer." Quinton folded his arms.

"Speaking of my intellect, I have a plan." Ricochet smiled brightly.

"What kind of plan?"

"The kind that's going to get us out of here." He looked to Flo. "You have a psychic link to that submarine of yours, right?"

"Yeah." Flo nodded. "Why?"

"Just a hunch… see if you can detect it nearby."

"Um, ok." Flo closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Then her eyes shot open. "Yes. It's somewhere in Warworld… in fact, if my sense of direction is on, then I think it's in a room right down the hall from the Rejuvenation Center."

"Just as I thought. They confiscated the sub along with the rest of our weapons. Which means, now we know where our weapons are. Which also means, my plan is going to work."

"Care to fill us in on this plan of yours, Ricochet?" Quinton asked skeptically.

"Nah, I prefer to keep you guessing. But I've been paying attention to who's been going in and out of this room for matches, and I think I've figured out their system. It's a complex numerical pattern, but there's definitely an order for picking the contestants each match. It isn't random." He looked to Troy. "You'll be headed to your next match in approximately twenty seconds. You'll be facing off against Ethan Pierce."

"That's ridiculous." Troy scowled. "You can't possibly know-" Suddenly an announcement came on.

**"Ethan Pierce and Troy Prince: Report to Arena A for your next battle."** It said.

"Lucky guess." Troy muttered, heading out the door. Ethan got up too and followed him.

"Troy, be sure to play it up out there. Keep the audience entertained, and if you can, get the guard's attention too." Ricochet instructed.

"Whatever." Troy disappeared.

"And Jesse, you'll be in Arena B, against that big four armed dude over there." Ricochet continued.

As if on cue, the next announcement came on. **"Jesse West and Rip Roar, report to Arena B for your next match."**

"Told you." Ricochet laughed. "Now, listen to me carefully Jesse. Because we don't have time for me to repeat this."

**(Warworld – Arena B – Two Minutes Later)**

Jesse dodged a powerful blow from his opponent, Rip Roar. Rip Roar was huge, bulky, had four arms, and was really, really mean. Jesse evaded a few more swings before he saw a yellow glow on his opponent's neck, and new the rage-transmitter had been activated.

Jesse had to keep the fight interesting on his end, before his got activated too. He zoomed around and struck Rip Roar a few hundred times, having no affect whatsoever. At one point Rip Roar managed to strike Jesse down, and from there it was all over.

Jesse hit the ground and spat up blood, before being kicked hard in the ribs by the giant. He was struck again in the face, and his vision went blurry. Rip Roar raised Jesse into the air triumphantly, and Jesse began vibrating as fast as he could, driving Rip Roar into the ground like a jackhammer!

Now that his opponent was immobile, Jesse hit him a few more times to knock him out, and then in a blur, sent a vibration through Rip Roar's body that would temporarily slow down his heartbeat, simulating death.

Soon Jesse was declared the victor, and was on his way to the Rejuvenation Center. Once there, two drones began lifting him into a strange looking pod. Jesse chose then to react. He planted his feet on the wall and ran straight up, throwing the drones onto the ground. He then dropped down in front of one, and it missed it's strike, destroying the glass tank behind him.

Jesse grabbed large shards and glass and at super speed, whipped them like knives! The impact dented the drones, but did not penetrate their armor. Jesse flew in nearly as fast as he could manage, and snatched the energy-lances out of the drone's disoriented hands. He then spun around and plunged them through the metallic warriors, destroying them.

Jesse sprinted out of the Rejuvenation Center and down the hall, stopping by a large metallic door. He touched his hands to the door and vibrated at an immense rate, burning a large hole through the metal. He ran into the room and grabbed all of the team's confiscated weaponry. He then zoomed back toward the holding area, where he rocketed along the walls of the crowded room and dropped down in the back, right beside the team.

Flo took back her Atlantean liquid swords, and Quinton took back the gauntlet. Tommy took his knife and his utility belt, and Ricochet took his jacket, which contained the circuitry enabling his magnetic powers. He also donned the EMP gauntlet he had designed.

"Good job, West." Ricochet spun around and doused the room in the most powerful EMP pulse he could generate, excluding himself and his teammates. The devices on the necks of all the prisoners began to go haywire, filling them with burning rage.

The inmates went ballistic, ripping each other apart viciously. All of the guard drones in Warworld were immediately summoned to the area to stop the riot.

"That buys us a window of time. Move!" Ricochet commanded, and they all sprinted out the exit, not even noticed by the drones.

"We need to get Troy. He's the only one of us who can maneuver this place." Tommy yelled.

"I know." Ricochet crashed through a window on his left and spilled out into the balcony, watching the battle below. He shot another EMP at the arena, causing the force-field to malfunction.

**(Warworld – Arena A – Same Time)**

Troy dodged another oncoming attack from Ethan, who was really trying to kill him. Ethan was pretty much an explosive tank of rage, and that made him dangerous. But it also made him sloppy, and predictable. Troy was winning, when he realized a flux in the force field.

He smiled, and realized why Ricochet had timed it like he did. Now the resistors would be down. "Ethan! Drain the force field!"

"What?" Ethan looked confused.

"The safeguards are down because that EMP, you can absorb the power now! Hurry!" Troy insisted.

Ethan grumbled and held out his hands. Sure enough, he was able to siphon off energy from the force field, sucking the system dry. Troy leapt out into the crowd and began leaping toward Ricochet.

Sprinklers started to fire toward Ethan, ready to douse him. Water and electricity don't mix; Ethan was in for more pain. He braced himself, but suddenly the water stopped in mid air! Then streams of water just stopped, and starting forming a ball in the air.

"What the hell…?" Ethan muttered.

"Ethan! Come on!" He heard Flo scream. She had stopped the water!

Ethan's lower body erupted into electricity, and he soared up toward them, touching down in front of Flo. "Why are you people helping me?"

"We could use your abilities. This team needs a powerhouse." Quinton said quickly.

"All League Kids are welcomed here." Flo smiled.

The team started to leave, when suddenly Mongul's voice rang out. "The boy runs just like his mother. Lightning died in this arena, as did Black Lightning. In fact, I made them kill each other!" Mongul laughed.

"Ethan, he's just trying to get to you. Let's go, now. Before the guards finish with the riot we started." Ricochet pleaded.

"That son of a bitch…" Ethan clenched his fists.

"Ethan come on dude." Jesse put his hand on his shoulder, but was shocked as soon as they made contact, and backed away.

"Sorry. I play by my own rules. And the rulebook says, this bastard's gotta' die!" Ethan soared off again suddenly, flying toward the tower containing Mongul.

As soon as he crashed through the window, Mongul struck him square in the face, sending him flailing out into the opposite wall!

"Damn it. Forget him, we have to go." Ricochet turned, but found that guards were beginning to file into the hallway.

"Crap. Mr. Anger Issues held us up too long." Jesse groaned in defeat.

The drones opened fire, and the team had no choice but to flee back down toward the arena, where Mongul was pummeling a bloodied Ethan.

Upon landing, Troy struck Mongul in the jaw, causing him to stumble. Mongul quickly retaliated and kicked Troy across the stadium, right into the oncoming Jesse.

Flo fired a hail of water at Mongul, but he held up a strange rod-device, and a gale force wind erupted, splitting the current away from him! "A little trophy from the Weather Wizard. He was one of the first to be killed in my new arena." Mongul boasted.

Tommy hit him with a bat-grenade, but when the smoke cleared, the villain was unscathed. He punched Tommy back several feet away, before swinging around and striking down Ricochet, who had attempted to attack from behind.

"I went toe to toe with Superman, back in the day! Do you _kids _really think you have a chance?" The villain chuckled.

"Where's Quinton?" Flo muttered, realizing that he was no where in sight.

"He just does that." Tommy sighed.

Mongul smacked around the team a bit more before Troy landed a powerful kick to his chest. Troy then did a handstand on Mongul's shoulders, flipped downward and kicked out the back of his knees, literally flipping Mongul in a loop.

Troy went to strike Mongul again, when a powerful energy blast erupted from the villain's chest, blasting Troy into the ground!

"You didn't think this was just for show?" Mongul tapped the gray laser device on the chest of his tunic.

Tommy came around back, but Mongul simply flipped the young hero onto the ground and punched him hard in the face, drawing blood from both his nose and jaw.

"Amazonian strength does not compare to mine, boy." Mongul laughed. "Especially not a mere half-Amazon. Or are you only a third Amazon, considering you're the freak with two fathers?"

"Shut – up." Tommy choked, flipping his legs up and kicking Mongul off of him. Suddenly Ethan came in hot and struck Mongul with a wave of electricity, stunning him. Ethan then moved in for another hit.

Mongul struggled to move, but Ethan had damaged his nervous system! Instead he prepared to fire another blast from his chest. But then a baterang sailed straight into the device, causing it to malfunction!

"Wh- no!" Mongul clutched the device, trying to remove it from his tunic. He found that he could not. "What is this?"

"It's called magnetism." Ricochet laughed. "I stuck that pretty little laser to your chest pretty tightly. You're never getting that thing off."

"You fool! You've damaged the device while charging for a blast… the explosion is going to kill us all!" Mongul screamed over the sound of the laser charging with power.

Water platforms appeared under the heroes' feet, and hardened into ice. It was then of little difficulty for Flo to raise them all up out of the arena.

"Ethan, you would be so kind." Ricochet waved.

Ethan dumped all the electricity back into the force field generator, causing the field to appear again over the arena, just as Mongul exploded! The force field contained the fiery blast, but the villain's screams could still be barely be heard.

A red light began to flare, and the sound of a countdown started. With his dying breath, Mongul had triggered a self-destruct of Warworld!

"Let's get out of here." Flo said with a smile, as the submarine floated up behind them, in the form of a small plane!

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Jesse asked excitedly.

"The sub has an air mode too." Flo shrugged. They all began to climb in through the hatch. Tommy was the last to head in, but suddenly he felt a massive weight and began to slide down.

"Ah!" Tommy jammed his knife into the ledge, dangling off of the flying submarine. He looked down to see a bloodied, battered, burning Mongul holding on to his ankle!

"No one – escapes – Mongul!" He shrieked, purple blood running out of his mouth. He had barely survived the explosion, but somehow he had. And he was determined to bring Tommy down with him!

Tommy tried to kick the villain off, but could not. The countdown quickly neared it's end. With his free hand, Tommy withdrew a baterang from his utility belt. But from that close range, the impact alone would kill Mongul. And they both knew it. Tommy hesitated.

"So noble. And so stupid." Mongul laughed. "You won't kill me. You don't have the will."

"Maybe not." Tommy smiled. "But _they _do."

"Huh?" Mongul gasped as he was suddenly ripped down by none other than Steppenwolf!

Mongul was jerked down into the swarm of Warworld prisoners. The anger transmitters on their necks were glowing red, the highest setting.

Quinton sailed toward them on a hover-board he had stolen.

"I hacked into the transmission system to the rage enhancer devices. I deactivated ours, and turned the rest up to maximum, and set them to focus on Mongul. Every single inmate is down there blindly ripping him apart right about now."

"Good job Q." Tommy laughed, climbing up swiftly into the sub. Quinton followed.

Flo fired a torpedo through the air, blasting a hole through the Warworld ceiling, and they flew out into the open air just as Warworld exploded behind them!

The warlike prison had been orbiting around Earth. The flying submarine touched down in a clearing somewhere outside the ruins of Hub City.

"I can't believe we made it out of that." Jesse shook his head in awe. "We are the luckiest bastards ever."

"Finally…" Troy said distantly, looking off into the evil red sky. "I've spent my entire life in that stupid arena. Now I'm out… thank you."

"Well we didn't exactly bring you into paradise." Ricochet said grimly. "Earth's pretty much an Apokoliptian hellhole now."

"So you guys are really going up against Apokolips?" Ethan's voice broke in.

"I guess we're already in this deep. There's no turning back now." Tommy nodded.

"That's pretty bold. Stupid, but bold. I want in." Ethan said solemnly.

"Alright, as long as you keep under control. No outbursts." Ricochet told him.

"Fine. I'll behave."

"What about you Troy? We could use your skills, for sure." Tommy called.

"Yeah, plus we need a normal guy on this team. These dudes are all screw ups." Flo laughed.

"Hell yeah, I'm in." Troy smiled.

"You'll both need codenames. And not something stupid, like The Answer." Jesse said.

"Will you leave it alone?" Quinton groaned.

"No." Jesse stuck his tongue out at him.

"Codenames huh…" Ethan pondered it for a moment. "Call me Thunder."

"Apollo." Troy replied quickly. "I want to go with my heritage, and I just like the sound of it. I'll go by Apollo, for the time being."

"We'll let you know if we think of something better." Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and it's Alex." Ricochet chimed in.

"What?" Tommy glared at him.

"Alex. It's my real name. You were complaining that you don't know anything about me, and you're right. If we're going to be a team, some things just have to be on the table."

"Alex? No last name?"

"Not one that you need to know right now." A grim look crossed over Ricochet/Alex's face.

"What about Allie?" Jesse's voice suddenly broke in. "We still don't know where she is."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Quinton shouted. "While I was in the Warworld control room, I also did a little research on Allie. I know where she is. One of the orphanages here on Earth… they call it The Hole."

"Ooh, that's not good." Alex immediately pitched. "The Hole, it's the biggest, and the worst, orphanage you'll find on Earth. If Allie's there, she isn't coming out."

"She has to." Jesse scowled. "I- uh, we need her."

"I have another reason we should go there." Ethan added. "The Hole… I heard rumors."

"What kind of rumors?" Flo persisted.

"The Hole contains a pretty powerful League Kid."

"League Kid? Really?" Tommy was suddenly interested.

"How powerful?" Alex inquired.

"Like, Kryptonian level powerful."

"Seriously? You mean-"

"Yup. We're talking a full on Superman kid. Imprisoned at The Hole."

"Well then that's two reasons why we should go." Jesse yelled. "What's the problem here? Let's get moving!"

"Tomorrow." Tommy interjected. "We'll rest up, and head out tomorrow. Where is this place?"

"Star City."

"Not too far then. We all need to rest."

"But Allie-" Jesse started to protest.

"Allie's tough, she can survive another night."

"We'll get her out, Jess." Flo placed her hand on Jesse's shoulder.

"We'll stop by Coast City first." Alex interrupted.

"Why?" Quinton demanded.

"Because we want to get in and out of The Hole alive. I know have a friend who hangs out in Coast City… Martian Manhuter's kid, actually."

"Another League Kid? There seem to be a lot of them running around all the sudden." Flo crossed her arms.

"You just have to know where to look." Alex smiled. "This friend of mine… we need him, because he's the only person on Earth… who has ever escaped from The Hole."

**(Hub City – Several Feet Away from a Clearing – Same Time)**

Fate watched the group of teenagers silently, careful not to be seen. She watched Tommy especially. She knew that this was one of the boys she had seen in her vision, but the other one wasn't there.

She had to wait, and find out where this second boy was. Or else, if her vision was correct… everyone would die.


	7. Stars

**Sorry this update took so long everybody. I had trouble making this chapter come out the way I wanted it to, it just never quite felt right to me. **

**This chapter is meant to elaborate on the bonds forming among the group, and delve a little deeper into the character's personality developments. We get back into the action next chapter, but this one is a bit slower. Enjoy!**

Chapter Seven: Stars

"Everything's happening so fast all the sudden. I finally know the truth about me… and I kind of wish I didn't. I don't know what I'm supposed to think about all this. I mean, I wasn't just born, I was created. And now all the sudden I'm expected to be a leader, and to bring a downfall to Apokolips? It's just too much at once. I can't be a leader! How am I supposed to be in charge of a team when it seems like every decision I make is the wrong one? I got Dinah killed, I pulled Flo and Jesse into this mess, I got all of us captured, and now Allie's off in some brainwashing camp being tortured. Not to mention I screwed up on Warworld and got an entire planet destroyed! I can't seem to do anything right, and now they expect me to be their leader… and I have never been so afraid before." Tommy sighed and closed his eyes.

"Oh, and on top of everything else, I apparently have a brother now. Troy Prince… he seems like an alright guy, and that's what bothers me. The last thing I want to do is get him killed. Now we've teamed up with him and this Ethan kid, who I just flat out don't trust. Ricochet, or… Alex I guess, he wants us to meet up with another League Kid today, in what used to be Coast City. Then we're going on another suicide mission into The Hole. Ethan says there's a Superman kid there, but none of us believe him. It specifically in all the recordings of the invasion that Superman only had one child, and he was executed. I guess I just don't know what to think right now… about anything. This is Tommy… uh, Tommy Grayson. Signing out on October 20th, 9:04 p.m."

Tommy turned off the video journal and slid it back into his pocket. He let out a deep sigh and looked off into the faint sliver that was the setting sun. He had found a low cliff-like area, and was sitting in the grass with his feet dangling off the edge.

It was the first time he had seen grass still living, still green. There was almost no vegetation of any kind left on Earth. "Nervous, huh?" A feminine voice said behind him. Flo.

"You were listening?"

"No. I can just tell." She smiled and sat next to him. "Talk to me."

"You shouldn't be here Flo."

"Huh?"

"I shouldn't have dragged you into this. I'm sorry. You managed to stay under the radar your whole life, and I ruined that for you." He looked at her seriously. "You should go."

"Go?"

"Yeah, we can manage without you. You shouldn't risk your life anymore for this. This isn't your fight."

"Tommy, if I had any intention of leaving, you don't think I would have by now?"

"Well-"

"Listen Grayson, I'm here for a reason. And I have no intention of walking out now. And by the way, don't pretend that you could manage without me. I have a ride, I can heal wounds, I'm immune to poisons, _and _I'm the only person here with any common sense. You people need me."

"I guess." Tommy looked off into the distance.

"So back to the point, what's bothering you?"

"Everything."

"Could you maybe be more specific?"

"Not really. Just five days ago, I was still in the cave, whining that I never got to leave. Now the cave's been destroyed, Dinah is dead, I found out I'm a freak of nature, and I have a brother, and you people all expect me to lead. I don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore, Flo."

"Wow… you're position really sucks."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"I guess Allie's better at that, isn't she? She can insult you and it's still encouraging."

"That's just how Allie is." A faint smile flashed across Tommy's face, before disappearing into his grim expression. "She understands everyone. She always knows how we feel… that's just her. And now she's off God-knows-where being turned into a soulless killing machine."

"You two must be really close." Flo looked away. "Maybe even… romantically close?"

"Me and Allie? No. We lived together for sixteen years. She's like a sister to me."

"Oh." Flo said immediately. "Well, that could help avoid some conflict."

"How so?"

"Well, you know Jesse has a thing for her."

"Jesse has a thing for anyone with breasts."

"Hah, good point." Flo laughed. "Hey, what about Troy?"

"What about him?"

"Well, he's like your brother Tommy."

"So?"

"So you've hardly spoken to him!"

"There's nothing to say."

"I understand that it's a weird situation Tommy but that doesn't mean you should run from it."

"Who's running? All I'm saying is that it doesn't matter right now."

"Yes it does." A powerful voice suddenly barked. Tommy and Flo turned around to see Alex leaned against a tree, looking almost angry.

"What's that supposed to mean, Alex?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Huh… let's take a walk, Tommy." He said distantly.

Tommy and Flo stood up. "Just Tommy." Alex stressed.

"Fine." Flo sighed irritably, turning and heading back toward the camp they had thrown together.

Tommy and Alex started walking along the ridge. "What do you want?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"I just think you and I need to talk. I know we didn't get off to the best start."

"Ugh-huh." Tommy nodded suspiciously.

"I know you don't like how little information I give. So… ask. I'm open to almost any question right now."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen… maybe twenty. I lost track somewhere in there."

"How long have you been surviving on your own?"

"Heh, probably about as long as you've been alive. My dad bailed on me first chance he got, and my mom… she was never around very much. She always wanted to get away from him."

"Ok, just one more question. How about a last name?"

"That is one of the few questions that I won't answer."

"Why not?"

"If you knew the answer, then you would understand."

"Fine." Tommy grumbled. "Hey, this buddy of yours, you said he's a League Kid?"

"Yup. His father was the Martian Manhunter, and his mother was human."

"Right. And you said he escaped from The Hole?"

"Yup. Only person who's ever made it out. I just hope he'll be willing to help us get back in."

"Speaking of help… I think we should ditch that Ethan kid."

"Why?"

"I don't trust him. He's violent, and on a full charge he could kill us all without much of a problem."

"You seem to have some trust issues Tommy."

"Whatever."

It had gotten dark now, the sliver of sun no longer visible. The two came to a large pond, the water glistening under the stars. Stars, the one thing in nature that Apokolips couldn't corrupt. They could kill all plant life, they could pollute the sky, they could taint the water, but they couldn't extinguish the stars. Tommy often looked to the stars as a sign of a hope, a sign that Apokolips wasn't invincible. A sign that something could always shine through the darkness.

"Alex… you didn't bring me out here just to play 20 Questions. What's the deal?"

"I- I heard you a Flo talking." A sad look drifted into Alex's eyes, and he stared down into the water. "When she brought up Troy… you said it didn't matter. Please don't say that Tommy."

"What?"

"He's your brother. That's important, no matter what the situation is. It's always important, you got that Tommy?"

"Alex what's your deal? You sound like you're going to cry or something."

"I have a little sister, ok? She would have been thirteen in August. But… well long story short, Apokoliptian forces found us. I escaped, but…"

"They took her?" Tommy guessed.

"Yeah. I went back to the area later, searched for hours, but I couldn't find a trace. I've dedicated the rest of my life to breaking into different orphanages, trying to find her. But I don't even know if she's still alive." Alex shook his head.

"That's the real reason you suggested we go to the memory core, isn't it? You wanted to try and get information on her."

"Yeah. But things worked against us there, I never got the chance." Alex sighed. "Sorry I lied about it so long."

"I would have done the same thing." Tommy grinned. "Maybe you and I aren't so different."

"More than you know." Alex said quietly, almost in a whisper. "But seriously Tommy, don't take Troy for granted. Please."

"I'll do my best." Tommy said distantly. _Do my best?_ _Well what if my best isn't good enough?_ He thought, still hung up on the leadership role.

"Let's head back to camp; we all need to get some sleep."

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up later." Tommy responded.

**(Back at the Camp – Same Time)**

Flo came wandering back and rejoined the rest of the group. They had a low fire going, just enough to keep them warm, but not enough to draw attention to the area. They had submerged the Aquaship in the small pond nearby, so that it wasn't seen by sky patrollers.

"Where are Tommy and Alex?" Troy asked, leaning against a tree with his arms folded behind his head. His dark eyes shimmered in the firelight, showing with wisdom beyond his years.

"They're off having some sort of guy talk." Flo shrugged, sitting near the fire.

"Doesn't it seem weird to you guys that we haven't been attacked yet? I mean, there are patrollers all over Earth, constantly surveying everything. It seems like we would have been caught by now." Jesse said worriedly.

"Jesse, it seems weird that we're alive as it is. Think about it… after we got caught, we were sent to Warworld. Why?" Flo responded in a distant tone.

"Would you have rather been landed in a prison?"

"No, of course not. But like, wouldn't it be easier to just execute us? If Darkseid thinks we're such a problem, then why send us to Warworld at all?"

"Because he underestimates you." Troy grinned. "He didn't expect you guys to ever get out. He probably thought you'd all die in Warworld on day one anyway."

"No." Ethan chimed in strongly. Everyone looked at him. "Darkseid doesn't underestimate. I should know, I worked as his damn battery for most of my life. He's brilliant, and above all he's manipulative. If we got sent to Warworld, there's some other reasoning behind it. A reason we don't understand yet."

"So the rage-tank Duracell Lad is suddenly a genius? That's wonderful." Jesse rolled his eyes.

"What did you just call me, West?" Ethan got to his feet and walked forward.

"Um… I don't remember." The speedster grinned sheepishly.

Ethan grabbed Jesse by the collar of his orange T-shirt and jerked him upwards. "Did you _really _call me 'Duracell Lad?'?"

"That's enough Pierce!" Alex's voice suddenly broke in. Ethan looked over and saw the sandy-browned haired vigilante staring him down.

"You're not the boss of me, pretty boy. I'll do whatever the hell I want!"

"Really? You want to put that to the test?" Alex cocked and eyebrow and cracked his knuckles.

"Whatever…" Ethan muttered after a moment's hesitation, and released Jesse before walking away.

"And Jesse, give Ethan his watch back." Alex said scoldingly

"What makes you think I have his watch?"

"I know you."

"Fine." Jesse pulled out the gray watch and tossed it back to Ethan. "It's cheap anyway."

"What happened to the geeky kid?" Troy asked, realizing that Quinton wasn't present among the group. "Did he get lost or something?"

"No, he just does that." Jesse shrugged.

"I wish he'd get back." Flo sighed. "I wanted to ask him about the whole Superman-kid thing. I don't know if it's possible that there really is a Kryptonian at The Hole."

"Did Superman even have kids?" Troy asked skeptically. "I got to here a lot of gossip growing up on Warworld, and I never heard anything about that."

"As far as I know, all known records say that Superman only had one child, a daughter, and she was killed in the Invasion." Flo nodded.

"Tell that to Captain AAA, he's the one who made it up." Jesse muttered, glaring to Ethan.

"That's it, he's dead!" Ethan turned around and swung a punch at Jesse. The speedster spun out of the way and started to punch back, before both he and Ethan were jerked in opposite directions by a powerful force. Both of them slammed against tree trunks on opposite sides of the clearing.

"Time out." Alex said sternly, using his powers of magnetism to keep them apart.

"Seriously? I'm not four!" Jesse protested.

"Act your age Jesse, not your IQ." Troy shouted.

"Hey new guy, shut up." Jesse grumbled, feeling the magnetism release. He stumbled forward and straightened his red and yellow sports jacket.

"Since we're all so excitable… Jesse, how about you go and find Quinton?" Alex suggested.

"Why me?"

"Because it isn't smart for us to get separated right now, and you can tour this entire forest in a couple of seconds." Alex reasoned.

"Fine, I'll get him." Jesse sighed, glaring at Ethan again. "I actually like Quinton better than _him_."

Ethan growled, and Jesse zoomed off. Troy stood up and started walking in the other direction.

"Where are you headed?" Flo asked.

"To find my new brother. Like Alex said, we shouldn't get separated right now." Troy decided, heading out toward the pond.

**(The Hole – Torture Chambers – Same Time)**

Allie fell to the floor again, her strength fleeing. She spat blood onto the concrete floor and slowly crawled to her feet. Another sharp whip cracked into her bare back, sending a wave of splitting pain through her body. She bit her lip to fight back a scream.

"You still continue to struggle, hmm?" Black Mask mused. "I must say, I am impressed at your resilience. Most would have succumbed to the pain by now."

"Wha- what the hell do you plan to accomplish… by beating me?" Allie huffed.

"Simple, my dear. Pain triggers a natural sense to stop resisting. And once you stop resisting, your will is weakened. And once your will is weakened, it is much easier to correct your mind."

"Correct? That's what you call it?" Allie laughed through the pain. "I think you mean control."

"I'll admit, you are a relatively strong willed little bitch." Black Mask lifted her up again. "But no one withstands forever. I'll just have to ramp up the pain." He threw her against a wall and pressed a button his wrist computer, causing the collar around her neck to send a painful surge through her.

A gruesome guard stepped in and grabbed Allie by the shoulders. "Take her to Level B, where I keep my more… creative torture devices." Black Mask said sadistically.

"My pleasure." The guard turned and started forcing Allie to walk forward.

"Come on, you don't really want to take me to Level B, do you?" Allie pleaded, all the while trying to muster a sonic scream.

"'Fraid so, sweetheart." The guard laughed, reaching the end of the room.

"Are you sure…?" Allie had to buy time, gathering all the energy she could.

"Y- yes…" The guard said, though for some reason he sounded confused.

"You don't really like working for Black Mask do you? The guy's a jerk… wouldn't you like helping me a whole lot better?"

"I…." A blank stare drifted into the guard's eyes. "Yes."

_What? _Allie thought. _Is this really working? I wonder… _

"What are you standing around for, idiot?" Black Mask shouted to the guard.

"See? He doesn't respect you." Allie continued. "Even though a big strong guy like you could probably take him down in a heartbeat, he treats you like dirt."

"Yeah…" The guard muttered, his voice seeming distant.

"Tell you what big guy, why don't you smash him for me? Then we can escape together."

"Yeah!" The guard turned and charged toward Black Mask, fists clenched.

"What the hell?" Black Mask gaped, dodging out of the way of a powerful strike. The guard spun around and struck him in the chest, sending the twisted doctor flailing into the opposite wall.

Black Mask stood up slowly and spat blood from behind his mask. The guard charged again, and the villain grabbed a syringe from a shelf on the wall, jamming into the guard's neck.

Instantly the guard dropped to the ground, shrieking. His veins bulged all over his body, and it appeared that his blood was boiling! Within seconds, the guard was dead.

"Stupid mongrel." Black Mask muttered. Then he looked to Allie with an amused glare. "Fascinating…"

Allie tried to release a sonic scream, but Black Mask reacted quickly and shocked her again. She fell to her knees, and he walked toward her laughing. "It seems you are a lot more powerful than we first thought, my dear."

"I've always been charming like that." Allie grinned defiantly.

"I knew you could manipulate your sonics, little birdie, but I had no idea to what extent."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Allie demanded.

"That guard, you don't really think you _charmed _him into attacking me, do you? You manipulated him… or rather, you manipulated your voice. You were able to make your voice trigger certain receptors in his brain, making it nearly impossible to not obey."

"You mean I controlled his mind?" Allie asked cynically.

"No, not control. But influenced it. You were able to influence his very thought process, meaning that you had great power of his actions. An impressive ability, I must admit. One that your mother certainly never possessed. Then again, your mother didn't have half the sonic abilities that you do… dampening sound, altering your voice, influencing others, it's all done by altering your sonic scream, and weaving it into your voice. The possibilities are limitless… with the right training, you could become one of the most powerful beings in the universe."

"Sorry, not interested." Allie responded quickly.

"Well I'm afraid it isn't your choice to make, little birdie. Granny wants a new Fury, and what Granny wants, Granny gets." Black Mask signaled for more guards to enter into the room. "Take her to Level B quickly. And keep her quiet too."

**(Wooded Area – Several Minutes Later)**

Jesse found Quinton sitting against a fallen tree, scribbling in his black notebook.

"Again with the notebook? Dude, we need to stick together right now ok?" Jesse groaned.

"You're one to talk." Quinton retorted plainly.

"How so?"

"You're the most untrustworthy person here. Alex won't even tell us his last name, and I trust him more than you. Don't lecture me on sticking together, when we both know you would ditch us all in a heartbeat."

"I won't argue." Jesse shrugged. "I'm a conman at heart."

Quinton was silent for a long time, so Jesse continued speaking to fill the void. "So what are you so pissy about anyway Q?"

"Things."

"Specific as always, I see." Jesse grinned. "Really though, I'm supposed to bring you back to the camp."

"I'll get there when I'm good and ready."

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Stuff."

Jesse sighed and then broke into a super-fast sprint. He zoomed by and grabbed the notebook from Quinton's hands, immediately looking over the contents.

"Give that back!" Quinton demanded, trying in vain to catch the speedster.

Jesse quickly found that the notebook was filled with drawings. Very detailed, skillful drawings. "Holy crap Q, you're one hell of an artist."

Many of the drawings were bizarre, abstract type pictures that didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Then Jesse reached a few of the more recent drawings, and his eyes opened wide.

In the last several pages of the notebook, there were drawings of Flo. The first was a close up of her face, done with masterful shading and perfect dimension. Quinton had obviously spent a lot of time on this picture. Jesse flipped to the next page, and found a full-body sketch of her, surrounded by a large heart.

Jesse smiled brightly. "Aw, aren't you cute?" He mocked.

"Shut up Jesse!" Quinton shouted, his face turning red with anger.

"So the faceless wonder has a crush on the fish chick, that's certainly original." Jesse laughed, throwing the notebook back to Quinton.

"Don't tell anybody about this, ok?"

"No promises. I can see why you'd be shy about telling her though."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I don't really think you and are… compatible."

"And why not?"

"Because Flo is upbeat, down to Earth, and full of life. And you're full of, well…" Jesse grinned. "I'm not really sure what the hell you're full of, Q."

"That's simple. The human body is composed of mostly of water and-"

"Quinton, not what I meant, ok?"

"I know." Quinton sighed. "I don't know how to describe it, alright? She just makes me feel… dumber."

"And… that's a good thing?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Usually I feel intellectually superior to everyone, and it makes it hard for me to enjoy pretty much anything. But Flo seems to make things, I don't know, easier."

"I have absolutely no idea what you mean." Jesse shrugged.

"Well from what I've observed, it is a lot like how you feel around Allie, except not dumber… just, more important."

"Huh?"

"From my observations I find that with Allie, you're self confidence issues diminish and-"

"What self confidence issues? I'm perfectly confident!"

"Not according to every psychology book I ever read. And I read approximately eighty-two of them."

"Whatever man." Jesse turned, shaking his head. "Let's hurry up and get back to the camp. We all need some sleep."

"Wait a minute Jesse…"

"What?"

"Do you think maybe- well, maybe you could-"

"Whoa! Stop right there!" Jesse put up his hands. "If you're going ask me to help you hook up with Flo, it's not happening. I'm not frickin' cupid, alright?"

"Right. Sorry."

"Ok good. But if you want my advice…"

"I really don't."

"Just talk to her, bro. That seems to be the crucial step that you refuse to take."

"You just said that Flo and I were incompatible, and now you're telling me to talk to her?"

"Oh yeah, you're totally incompatible. I just think it'll be funny to see you get shot down a couple times." Jesse laughed, before his stomach erupted in a low growl. "Ok, I really need to get to camp and eat something. But I mean it Q, just talk."

**(Lake – Same Time)**

"This is going to be awkward isn't it?" Troy inquired.

"Definitely." Tommy nodded.

"So, what are we exactly? I mean, we're clearly related somehow, but what the hell would you call it?"

"Let's just say we're brothers for now. It's a lot easier than trying to figure out some freakish family tree."

"Yeah, I agree." Troy sighed and leaned against a tree, sliding his hands into his pockets. "So this Allie chick we're going to save… what's she like?"

"Allie? She's special."

"Special how?"

"Well for one, she could sarcasm you to death without even trying. She has a great sense of humor, and she's always smiling no matter how bad things get. She's beautiful, but she could break a guy's arms and legs in a couple of seconds if she had to. And above all, she's probably the nicest person in the world. She's always understanding of everything."

"Wow, that was a lovesick puppy rant if I've ever heard one." Troy chuckled.

"Why does everyone always assume that? There is nothing between me and Allie. In all honesty, I consider her my sister. We grew up together, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. I really do." Troy looked up into the sky. "So do you really think you can make a difference? In the world, I mean. Do you think we can actually take down Apokolips?"

"To be honest, no. I don't."

"Then why even try? If we know it's a suicide mission, then why do we keep digging ourselves deeper?"

"Because if we die, at least we'll have died for something." Tommy skipped a rock across the water. "We won't just be more mindless slaves to Apokolips, we'll have died trying to make a difference. Trying to make things better. And to me, that makes it all worth while."

"I wish I could see things like you do." Troy frowned. "In all honesty, I just want to die."

"What?"

"Yeah. I don't want to live like this anymore, you know? I spent the majority of my life in an arena, being forced to kill for sport. When you live like that, you lose all sense of self worth Tommy. The desire to live goes right out the window, and you're left an empty shell, who doesn't even know what he's fighting for." Troy shook his head. "I don't want to live in this world anymore Tommy. All the violence, the sadness, the hate… I just want to get away from it all."

"I don't blame you." Tommy sighed. "I've had that same thought a few times."

"Then again, maybe death brings you somewhere worse. I don't know. What do you think happens when you die?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Growing up in the cave, Dinah always told us about Heaven and Hell. She told us about a benevolent God, a loving God. But I look around at the world today, and I just don't know. I guess I'm not sure what I believe, about anything really."

"Me either man." Troy was still looking into the sky. "I don't know a whole lot, but I know I can believe in stars."

"Stars…" Tommy looked up too. "The one thing they couldn't take away from us. They took humanity's freedom, happiness, and love. But they couldn't take the stars."

"Proof that there's some beauty even in hell." Troy smiled. "It's funny. I remember looking up at the stars as a kid, before I was found by Warworld Scouters. It's so stupid, but…"

"But what?"

"I remember I would always look up at the stars, and imagine that one of them was my mom, or my dad, looking down on me, you know? Watching over me."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

"I was listening to Quinton talking earlier, about how the Amazons just disappeared during the invasion…"

"Yeah."

"My mom was Wonder Woman, yours was Donna Troy. They were both Amazons, right?"

"Yes."

"So, do you think maybe when the Amazons disappeared, our moms went with them? Do you think there's some chance that our mother's are still alive somewhere?"

"No." Tommy shook his head. "When the Amazons left, Diana and Donna chose to stay behind. They had to renounce their status among the Amazons in order to stay, they became completely mortal."

"Oh." Troy said, sounding disappointed. "That turned out to be a pretty crappy decision, didn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it did."

Suddenly Tommy noticed a bright orange glow off in the distance, swiftly becoming larger and more visible. Soon a series of hellish cries could be heard.

"Hellhounds." Tommy grimaced. "A whole pack of them."

"Looks like a big one too." Troy said as he looked off into the distance.

"They're coming this way, no doubt about that." Tommy groaned. "We need to head back to camp now, and warn the others."


	8. Deceit

**I'm really sorry this update took so long everyone. I've had a lot going on, and just haven't found as much time to write lately. I promise that the next chapter will come much, much faster. **

**I really feel this chapter is worth the wait, and I also have a feeling the next one will be even better. I'm building up to some pretty exciting events soon, and there will be plenty of plot twists coming up! **

Chapter Eight: Honor and Deceit 

"We need to go! Now!" Tommy shouted as he and Troy neared the group, running as fast as they could.

"What's going on?" Flo asked, immediately on the offensive.

"Hellhounds. A lot of them. They're approaching from the East. They'll be here in about fifteen minutes, and we have to be gone by then."

"We certainly can't afford a fight right now. Flo, call the ship." Alex instructed.

"Hold a second, who put you in charge?" Flo raised an eyebrow to Alex.

"Flo, not a good time, ok?" Alex reasoned.

"Fine." She closed her eyes and focused for a moment, and the Aquaship came hovering down toward them.

"Not a good plan." Ethan warned abruptly.

"Oh yeah?" Jesse looked back skeptically. "Why not, Static Man?"

"If Apokolips wanted to kill you with Hellhounds, they would have sent them through a Boom Tube. That way we wouldn't see them coming from a mile away. I have a feeling the Hellhounds are just to flush us out, and once we're in the air, they'll hit us for real." Ethan explained.

"Right, because _you're _an expert on military strategy after years of… sitting in a bubble connected to wires?" Jesse narrowed his eyes.

"I think he has a point." Troy interjected. "It's not like we weren't going to see those Hellhounds coming, they're kind of hard to miss. I think it's a diversion."

"So what do you suggest? That we should just sit here and casually wait around for a pack of bloodthirsty fire mutts? Sorry, I'd rather take my chances in the air." Jesse argued.

"Hate to say it, but I agree with Jesse on this one." Alex joined in. "Extreme heat cancels out magnetism, so I would be useless against them. I'd rather fight something in the air and have a chance, then fight something on the ground with no powers at all."

"I agree with Alex and Jesse too." Flo chimed in. "So far, Apokolips's main strategy against us has been brute force. I doubt they're changing their game now."

"I'm with Troy and Ethan." Tommy objected. "Out of all of us, Ethan is the only one who can actually fly, plus the ship is still damaged. We have a much better chance on the ground."

"So it's a tie then." Alex sighed. "Quinton, the deciding vote goes to you."

"Um…" Quinton paused a moment, looking back and forth between the two factions that had formed among the team. His eyes rested on Flo, and he made his decision. "I say we fly. It only makes sense for us to get out of here as fast as we can."

"Alright then!" Flo smiled, along with Jesse and Alex. "Everybody on board."

The group quickly boarded the sea-blue shuttle. It took off into the air just as the forest began to set ablaze, the fires driven by the Hellhounds. The fiery dogs leapt at the winged sub, but it was already out of reach.

Inside, Jesse sank into a chair and closed his eyes. "Good job Q."

"Good job?" Tommy's voice broke in sharply. "That was ridiculous! We're a team, not a damn debate club! If we can't decide on an action fast, we are going to die. That's just how it is."

"Tommy's right." Alex nodded. "It was like we turned into two opposing political parties back there. If there were an even number of us, we'd probably still be arguing about it. We can't operate that way if we want to win."

"Duh! That's why we need a leader! Hasn't anyone been listening to me?" Flo threw up her arms. Her glance shot to Tommy, and his expression immediately darkened.

"How many times do I have to say it? I – don't – want – to." Tommy objected.

"Dude, that's a bit childish." Troy shook his head.

"I'm sorry, ok? But I'm not the right guy. I can't lead. Not when every choice I make gets somebody hurt."

"Will stop with that already?" Flo's eyes narrowed. "It isn't your fault that Dinah died ok! Just like it isn't your fault that we got captured on Themyscira, it isn't your fault that Mongul blew up Steppenwolf's home, and it sure as hell isn't your fault that Allie's at The Hole right now! So for the love of God, Tommy, suck it up and quit blaming yourself for everything!"

There was absolute silence among the ship. Flo sighed, and looked apologetic for a moment, but it quickly faded. Tommy glared back as if he were about to retaliate, but then shook his head and walked toward the armory room.

"I'm sorry." He repeated. "But I can't take that burden."

The door slammed behind him, and as soon as the lock clicked, Jesse broke out laughing. "Holy crap! Flo just gave him a verbal ass kicking!" He raved.

"That was hot…" Quinton muttered.

"What?" She looked at him strangely.

"Oh, um… it's hot in here. Don't they have air condition in Atlantis?"

"Actually, yes… the ship is kept at about seventy two degrees." Flo replied awkwardly.

"Oh. I see." Quinton turned and looked out the window absently.

Jesse fought back another bout of laughter and stood up. "I'm gonna have to raid the food storage. Let me know when we get to Coast City." As he walked he stopped and looked to Ethan. "See? We've been in the air for like, ten minutes now and nothing bad has happened. So I guess you were… what's the word…? Starts with a W, and ends with an R-O-N-G?"

"West, get out of my face, or I'll melt yours." Ethan said calmly.

"Go ahead. I'll still be better looking than you." Jesse mocked, and as soon as the final word left his lips, Ethan wrapped his hand around the speedster's throat and shoved him against a wall.

"You really, really piss me off! You know that?" Ethan shouted as his free hand began to crackle with electricity.

"Ethan!" Alex shouted. "Calm down. You start firing off blasts in here you'll get us all killed."

"Right, let's just ignore the fact that my face is at stake, that's cool." Jesse rolled his eyes.

Ethan growled, his eyes shining with an electric blue. "Whatever. I don't even know why I'm here." He shoved Jesse away and walked off toward his own little corner.

"Man, and I thought Tommy had a temper." Jesse muttered, shaking his head and walking into the food storage room, which was nearly empty from his last visit.

While digging around in the shelves, his mind wandered absently to Allie. "Damn… she must be going through hell right now." He muttered. Jesse couldn't help but feel a shred of guilt. On Themyscira, he had been the one who screwed up and set off the trap. He had been the one who got them caught. If he hadn't been so stupid… if he had paid a little more attention… maybe they all would have made it off the island ok, and maybe Allie would still be with them…

"No! Stop it West!" Jesse commanded himself, shaking the thoughts away as best he could. "Guilt is the enemy, remember… I don't feel guilt. I do what I have to, and the survival instinct trumps the remorse…" Jesse's eyes darkened. The problem was that he liked Allie. A lot. Everyone else in the group looked down on him. Nobody trusted him, and to be fair he hadn't earned their trust by any means. But nobody what anybody else thought… Allie never looked down on him. And that meant a lot.

"Damn it!" Jesse forced his own eyes shut. "This is why I don't form attachments… I don't trust people, and I don't let them trust me… it saves a lot of hurt that way. I got too damn close to that girl, and now here I am feeling _guilty _for God's sake!" After finishing his whispered tirade, Jesse realized that he was talking to himself. He shook his head and went back to rummaging for food.

After scrounging around for a few minutes, a voice suddenly broke the silence behind him. Jesse jumped in surprise and smacked his head on the bottom of a wooden shelf. He stumbled back angrily, and looked to see that it was Quinton who had spoken.

"Seriously Q, the next time you just randomly appear somewhere, I'm going to have a frickin' aneurysm." Jesse groaned.

"I um… I have a favor to ask." Quinton said uncomfortably.

"Wait, I never heard the door open… how the hell did you get in here without using the door?"

"Will you pay attention for a second? This is important." Quinton begged.

"Fine, what is it?"

"I, um… I need some advice." Quinton shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"What kind of advice?"

"How do I, you know, stop thinking about Flo?"

"Well why do you want to stop?" Jesse asked quizzically.

"Because she's making me stupid!" Quinton blurted. "When we were taking that vote back at the camp, I didn't actually _agree _with her! But I still took her side because, well… I don't even know why! Getting into the ship made no logical sense… it was like she clouded my judgment."

Jesse sighed irritably. "Didn't I tell you not to bug me about this crap? Why ask _me_? It's not like I'm the only dude on this ship!"

"Well… Tommy is too filled with misanthropy to care about relationships. Troy grew up on Warworld, where the only girls were gross aliens… Ethan lived in a bubble for most of his teenage life, and Alex… well I just don't trust him enough yet."

"So it's like process of elimination… and I'm the quotient?" Jesse summarized.

"Well, let's ignore the fact that you clearly have no idea what a quotient is, and yes."

"Ok then. Well Q, I spend most of my time thinking about chicks… so if you want Flo out of your head, well that isn't exactly my area of expertise. But I can give you one piece of advice."

"What is it?"

"No matter what you feel like you should do, always do the opposite."

"Why?"

"Because she's gotten her hooks into you man! She's like a Siren, you know, from Greek Mythology?"

"Yes. But how the hell did _you _know about that?"

"There used to be this little cult of refugees in southern Gotham, founded by Maxi Zeus. They believed in Greek legends and all that crap, so I did a little research, and then used my super speed to convince them that I was Hermes. They started to worship me, and gave me a ton of free food and jewelry and stuff."

"I've got to admit… that's sort of clever." Quinton acknowledged.

"Yeah, it was awesome. One of the best scams I ever pulled." Jesse smiled proudly. "But then Apokoliptian forces came to wipe the cult out, so I grabbed as much stuff as I could and ran away. But anyway, back to the point… Flo is like a Siren, dude. A temptress of the sea, they used their songs and their beauty to lure sailors to their deaths."

"Are you saying Flo is luring me to my death?"

"Maybe not intentionally, but think about it for a second. If she's leading you to make bad decisions, it's going to get you killed sooner or later. Flo is the sea temptress!" Jesse said logically.

"Oh my God you're right…" Quinton peered out the doorway and looked at Flo. "What should I do again?"

"Flo's hot, and your body knows that. And more importantly, your body _wants _that. So it's telling you to do what she wants, to get on her good side, you know? So just don't listen. Whatever you feel like you should do, do the opposite, and you'll be just fine."

"Sounds good. Thanks."

"Happy to help. Although, no advice comes for free, I'll require a little payment…" Jesse grinned. "Those sunglasses of yours, perhaps?"

"Go to hell West."

**(Aquaship – Armory – Same Time)**

"We're headed to Coast City to find some guy who apparently escaped from The Hole a few years back. Alex thinks me might be able to help get Allie out. But at the rate things are going, I'll be surprised if we even survive the trip. Jesse's being more of a jackass than normal. Or maybe I'm just noticing it more because I'm on edge. Either way, I'm sick of him. He and Ethan can argue their way right to Apokolips as far as I'm concerned. As for Alex… I still don't trust him, but I'm beginning to respect him. A little bit, anyway. Then there's Troy… I guess he's my brother now. I really like him so far. He's the only person other than Allie who I can stand to talk to for more than ten minutes at a time."

"Quinton is still Quinton, nothings changed in that department. Other than the fact that he turns into a babbling idiot every time he's within three feet of Flo, anyway. Speaking of Flo, she seems ok. A bit too optimistic though, it kind of pisses me off. My mind is still on the fritz from everything I've had to absorb over these last few days, and I'm about ready to murder somebody. At least in the cave you could get plenty of privacy, but now we're crammed into this damn sub-ship thing. And I do not do closeness. Quinton is usually the claustrophobic one, and I guess that's not really it anyway… I just hate crowds."

"Anyway, I'm starting to ramble now, so I guess I've said all I need to say. This is Tommy Grayson, signing out on… huh; I don't even remember what day it is." Tommy turned off the video journal and slammed his head against the wall behind him.

He tried to focus on battle strategies, escape plans, etcetera. He couldn't. The only thing he could think about was saving Allie. "Damn it. I'm losing it." He sighed, as memories began to flood his mind.

He remembered the endless hours in the Justice Cave, sitting around with Allie not really doing anything but trying to occupy their time. When he wasn't in the mood to completely isolate himself, which to be fair had been about three times a week, he would spend nearly all of his time Allie. Hour after hour, they would just hang out and talk about… well, anything.

Tommy and Quinton had never really clicked. They probably spoke less than a hundred words to each other in a year. But Allie… he could talk to Allie. Because Allie understood him. Allie understood everything. And even more importantly, she always cared.

"Stop it…" Tommy muttered to himself, frustration apparent in his voice. He closed his eyes as more memories started to blur by, moving like a slideshow in his head. He remembered the whole days he had spent sparring with Allie. "Damn she could fight." He smiled, but quickly caught himself and shook it away.

Then one final bit of memory flitted into his mind, one that he had tried to hard to keep from resurfacing. When they were twelve, and had found an old black and white movie in J'onn's room… Tommy couldn't remember the title now. But he remembered that out of sheer boredom, he and Allie had laid on the floor and watched the entire two hour film. He couldn't remember what it was about now, either. But he remembered that the movie ended with the star kissing some girl, and then the credits started rolling.

"Sad…" Allie had said.

"What?" Tommy remembered asking. "It was a pretty happy ending."

"No, not that." Allie smiled. Even now, Tommy remembered the warmth in her smile. "I mean… we live in a cave, Tommy. We see all the same people every day. So…"

"So?" Tommy pushed on. He hadn't really been interested in what Allie was getting at, but he knew that if he didn't let her finish speaking she would break his arm. Again.

"Well…" Allie had said, with a hesitance that she usually didn't have. "I'll probably never do that. A kiss like that, I mean."

"Oh." Tommy remembered looking away after she said that. "Yeah."

"It's sad, you know? Life like that, it doesn't exist anymore. We're lucky that we've stayed under the radar all our lives, but… we'll still never have opportunities like that." Allie had said dreamily.

"Well… we could…"

"Huh?"

"We could, you know…? Just to get it out of the way?""

"Wait, like, you and me?" Allie had said. She had looked surprised, but thinking back on it Tommy realized that her surprise had seemed faked. She had been pushing for it all along.

"Uh…" Tommy remembered freezing up. "No, never mind. It's stupid. I just thought-" At that moment, Allie had come in by surprise and kissed him. He didn't try to resist at all. It had lasted about three seconds, before she pulled away.

The two of them had never spoken of it again. It never happened again, nor was there ever any desire for it to. After all, they were just twelve, and it was out of boredom…

But Tommy remembered those three seconds now, and grinned. Again he caught himself, and groaned. "No, it can't happen." He stood up and shook his head. "Doesn't even matter now… now she's being tortured somewhere, fending for her life and suffering more than I can imagine… and I'm thinking about some stupid kiss four years ago?" Tommy kicked the wall and sighed. "No…"

**(Apokolips – Darkseid's Palace – Throne Room)**

Darkseid sat before a large chessboard. The white pieces consisted of his enemies, as always… the king being a small figurine of Thomas Grayson. The black pieces were his own servants and Darkseid himself, the king of course.

"It has been ages since I last saw that chess board… _father_." A booming, arrogant voice broke in.

A dark, looming figure burst into the throne room, leaving the large doorway to slam shut behind him. In front of the figure, Desaad stumbled forth.

"Lord Darkseid, I tried to stop him, but he overpowered the guards and-" Desaad whined, but the figure struck him down in mid ramble.

The figure was nearly as tall as Darkseid himself, and his skin was the same ashy gray and black that shone with a dark air of everlastingness. But this figure had long, wavy black hair, and an egotistical smile that showed the superiority of a god.

"Grayven." Darkseid groaned, showing nothing but annoying in his voice. "How dare you come crawling to me now?"

"Do I look like I crawl, father?" Grayven barked confidently, as he stared up Darkseid in his throne.

"When I last saw you, you used the Zeta Beam to escape death. I thought you would have had the sense to remain in hiding. I suppose now I may finally take the pleasure of killing you." Darkseid announces as he rose to his feet.

"Don't you at least want to know why I returned here?" Grayven asked quizzically.

"I will give you approximately three seconds to explain."

"The children. The ones who have apparently become an enemy worthy enough of your little game…" Grayven said as he stepped closer, examining the chess board. "Different players, same game; I see."

"Two seconds." Darkseid grimaced.

"Allow me to rid you of them, father." Grayven smiled. "Give me control over just a small fraction of your army, and I will see to it that every one of these… children is killed within three days."

"And why, dare I ask, would I entrust you with this task?"

"Clearly you have had some difficulty, father." Grayven tilted his head. "Why else would they still be alive?"

"I would have thought a strategist of your caliber, Grayven, would know that a war is never won by the first battle." Darkseid looked down to the chess board. "Of course I could simply have them killed, that much would be of little difficulty. But if you follow the wolf long enough… eventually you find the pack. I sent the Hellhounds only to drive them out of their little campground. They will now doubt lead us to more of these… League Kids." Darkseid uttered the phrase with disgust. "And once they are all gathered, that is when the extermination begins."

"But look a bit deeper, father." Grayven continued. "They have already defeated some of your most reliable forces. Deathstroke, Mongul, both dead. So far only the Furies have stood up to them. And that, I must say, is an embarrassment. What I ask for, father, is a chance to regain your favor. To restore my honor, and earn your respect."

"And you expect to gain this honor by murdering a few children?" Darkseid said amusedly.

"If you would just spare a thousand of your soldiers to be put temporarily under my command, I will bring these new enemies swift death. And perhaps, I could be made your main general on Earth. To manage projects there, and to crush any other uprising that may form."

"What you are asking is part-ownership for Earth. I do not share power, Grayven. I take it."

"Give me a chance, father." Grayven insisted. "I can bring something to the table that no one else can."

"And what is that?"

"I can bring your direct authority… to Earth. They already fear your image. I will make them worship it. Their wills are already broken. I will make them nonexistent. Their strength is already weak. I will make it die." Grayven smiled. "And all in your name. The name of Darkseid."

After a moment of silence, Darkseid returned to his throne. "Three days, Grayven. You have three days. And if this little uprising is not crushed by then, I will make sure you do not escape your death a second time."

**(Earth – The Hole – Arena)**

Allie's eyes opened slowly, and she immediately scanned her surroundings, not sure of where she was.

The last thing she could remember, she was on Torture Level B, having her bones broken, healed, then re-broken by some sort of hellish machine. She was relieved to find that she didn't seem to be bound in any way, moving her hands freely.

By now her senses had come into focus enough for her to know that she was outside. Her feet were planted firmly on a hard stone ground, ground that covered a vast area. An area that ended with massive steel walls, enclosing anyone and anything inside.

Allie looked down and a new question drifted into her thoughts. What the hell was she wearing? She bore a heavy red and golden breastplate that looked like it could stop small arms fire with ease. Her stomach was still exposed, and her lower body was clad in more armor of the same color scheme. A heavy metal helmet covered her head, leaving only her face visible. From the back of the helmet, her hair protruded in a long ponytail. At her hip was a sword, and on her back was a shield. Next the shield, she felt the familiar presence of her bow, as well as a small quiver behind the shield.

"I don't even want to know who put me into this outfit." She muttered, looking around for any other sign of life. And unfortunately, she soon found it. There was a thundering blast, and a large bluish-white portal opened up on the other end of the arena. "A Boom Tube…" Allie realized. Eight women stepped out, all significantly older than her, and wearing similar armor. And they all looked extremely tough.

A large hologram appeared above the arena, showing a face that Allie recognized all too well. Granny Goodness.

"Hello darlings, it's me, Granny." The hologram announced in her elderly, somewhat mannish voice. "These eight little dears are the most talented trainees we've found on Earth." The hologram said as it looked directly toward Allie. "They are in line to join the Furies within a few more years. So, let's see if you have what it takes to join their ranks…"

"What?" Allie's eyes opened wide at the realization that she would have to fight for her life in about ten seconds.

"And of course," Granny continued, assuming you live, your fates shall be determined by the Furies Earth recruiter… Warbird."

Suddenly another Boom Tube opened, this time a lone figure descending. She wore black and red Apokoliptian battle armor, stained with blood from the thousands of warriors she had slain. The little skin showing on the woman revealed her to be dark in color, having a smooth, chocolaty complexion. She was sleek and attractive, but an air of power radiated around her, signifying that she was a force to reckoned with.

A wave of luscious, dark hair flared from the back of her helmet. The woman held an ax at her side, had a mace strapped on her back, and a sword sheathed at the hip. No shield, no means of defense. Allie got the impression that this woman didn't need it. But the most prominent thing about this woman were the wings… large, feathery white wings spanning from her back, giving an angelic aura to the beautiful but deadly creature.

"Angel of Death…" Allie muttered as the winged woman descended. Upon reaching the ground, she looked up, regarding Allie with no hint of emotion whatsoever. Her eyes were a bright, fluorescent green, almost neon… they seemed to glow. Allie realized now that this girl was not much older than her, yet the look on her face shown with years of hardened experience on the battlefield.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Allie asked, doing her best to sound confident, though at the moment she was not feeling a shred of confidence.

"Don't worry about it." The woman said, her voice like sweetened steel. "You won't live long enough for it to matter."

Allie did everything she could to keep her cool. "I don't know if I understand the point of this… and Warbird, she called you?"

"Point?" Warbird raised an eyebrow. "You won't last ten seconds here. Listen up, alright? Because I won't repeat. The Furies want recruits, that's the whole reason you're here. Frankly, it's the reason you're still alive. But not everybody makes the cut. Actually, most don't. These eight women behind me are the best we've found on Earth so far. Black Mask seems to think you've got what it takes to join them. Granny has her doubts. So do I. So basically, this is your trial run. You survive, you become the ninth potential Fury."

"But survive… what exactly?" Allie already knew the answer, she just didn't want to accept it.

Warbird smiled. "Me." In a blur, the woman soared at her and drove the ax straight for Allie's neck.

Allie ducked out of the way, but wasn't quite fast enough and the ax struck the top of her helmet. A wave of electricity surged through her body, rippling down her nerves and decimating her muscles.

_Electrified ax? _Allie thought absently as she stumbled to the ground, no longer in control of her legs. Without a moments hesitation, Warbird plunged the axe downward, striking at Allie's exposed stomach. Unable to move her body, Allie did the next best thing shot a small sonic scream into Warbird just before the blade made contact. The sound of the warrior's helmet ringing could be heard all across the area, and she stumbled to side, trying to regain her composure after having her balance destroyed by the piercing sonics.

Allie finally managed to move her legs, her muscles recovering from shock, and she kicked her leg out toward the back of Warbird's knee. But Warbird reacted with surprising speed, and latched her hand around Allie's ankle with a frighteningly strong grip. She whipped Allie into another of the women, a huge, muscular woman who grabbed Allie in a rib-crushing bear hug.

Allie immediately felt the breath squeezed out of her body, and her vision turned a hazy red as she was deprived of oxygen. Using what little motion she had in her right hand, she worked the sword out of its holster, and was surprised to see that it was a slick emerald green blade. She liked it.

Allie all but dropped the sword into the giant woman's foot, and a small fountain of blood squirted up to meet them at eye level. The woman only grunted in pain, even with the sword boring almost all the way through her foot. Allie swung her own foot down as hard as she could manage, and struck the upright hilt of the blade, driving it even further through the woman's heel.

This time the woman was forced to loosen her grip, and Allie quickly kicked her way out. As soon as she was on the ground again, she was struck by a crushing kick from a fast moving warrior, and tumbled to the ground. The warrior slashed with two katana, and Allie swiftly pulled her shield in front of her chest, blocking the twin swords. Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal, and Allie rolled away swiftly. Before she was even on her feet, her bow was at the ready. She quickly removed an arrow from the quiver and fired toward the katana-wielding vixen.

As expected, the woman slashed the arrow out of the air with lightning-quick reflexes. But the tip of the arrow exploded into a cloud of gas, that quickly incapacitated the woman. "Sweet, they gave me my trick arrows back." Allie grinned. "They're going to regret that one."

The giant woman charged Allie again, and a third warrior came in from behind. Allie pumped a boxing glove arrow into the giant's face, and then in one fluid movement, ripped the sword away from her foot and spun around, blocking the second attacker's spear-strike.

Allie plunged her leg forward and kicked the spear-wielding warrior backward, then spun around again and slashed her at the chest. The woman fell the ground bleeding. Allie had been sure not to land a fatal blow, she just wanted to make sure the woman wouldn't get back up. Allie jumped and cart wheeled over the giant's next strike, and struck her hard in the back of the neck, using all of the combat skills her mother had taught her.

The giant went tumbling down, hitting hard. Allie did the math quickly. _Eight women plus Warbird equals nine enemies… minus three equals six. Six left. Where are they?" _Suddenly a smoke bomb exploded on the ground next to Allie, and a thick smoke swallowed the area, blinding her.

No sooner than Allie realized what had happened, a crushing punch struck her in the stomach and sent a wave of pain through her body. Another fist caught her bluntly in the face, and she spat blood on contact. Allie spun around and was greeted by another kick to the ribs, and then a punch square in the face! She fell back and wiped a stream of blood from her nose before a spear plunged downward and landed a deep gash in her cheek. Allie rolled away and tried to follow the shadows moving through the fog around her, but couldn't seem to keep up with a single target.

Thinking quickly, she closed her eyes and released a barely-audible sonic scream, manipulating the noise as best she could and used it like echolocation! Detecting an incoming attack, Allie quickly spun around and fired an arrow in a straight line behind her. Blood squirted from the smoke and a woman with a dagger stumbled forth, the arrow driven through her upper arm. Allie sidestepped and delivered a punishing kick to the already startled woman's face, knocking on the ground in a daze.

Allie raised her arm to deliver another strike, but then a strong metal chain wrapped itself around her forearm, and Allie was yanked violently across the hard, stony ground, bruising her entire left side along the way. With one final jerk, Allie was pulled out of the smoke and into a fist. She fell the ground hard, a huge welt forming on her forehead. A blonde woman held the chain and wound it around Allie's waist expertly.

"You're good, kid. I'll give you that." She smiled sadistically. "But my friend Alexi over there… she's the Furies next archer, you got it? And no bitchy little upstart is going to take her place!"

A dark haired woman who was apparently named Alexi stepped out of the smog with a bow in hand. She readied an arrow, and took aim at Allie while the blonde pulled the chains even tighter.

In desperation, Allie glanced over and noticed that the giant woman was beginning to get to her feet. _She doesn't seem too bright. Maybe… _A desperate idea formed in Allie's mind, and she began to speak loudly to the giant, doing her best to weave power into her words, just as Black Mask had explained.

"Hey, you… you don't _really _want to be a Fury do you? You just want to be free, right?"

"Yes…" The woman muttered softly, a look of confusion forming on her mannish face.

"I'll make sure you get free, as long as you free me. Like, before I die." Allie tried her best to stay focused, putting manipulated sonics into every word she spoke, hoping it would work and activate whatever receptors in the brain Black Mask had been talking about. "Come on, you know you want to help me, quit wasting time working for Granny. You don't need to take orders from her!"

"No… I don't…" The woman muttered.

"So take these chicks down already!" Allie started to finish before the blonde Fury-wannabe clamped a hand around her throat.

"What the hell are you trying to-" She began to taunt when the large woman's fist suddenly plummeted into her face! The blonde sailed across the arena, spinning through the air and crashed into the wall with a deafening, bone-shattering crunch. The giant woman snapped the chain with little difficulty, and Allie quickly dodged out of the way of the arrow just an instant after it was fired.

Allie took a second arrow to the leg, and winced, biting her lip to keep form screaming. She looked down and saw that the arrow hadn't penetrated too far through the armor. _Not too deep, no need to worry. _Allie mentally assured herself, ignoring the blood reddening the ground around her feet.

"Time to die, little bitch…" The wicked archer said as she prepared to fire one last shot.

Allie quickly loaded and fired as well, and the two arrows struck each other in mid air. There was a loud clang, and then Allie's arrow exploded into a blinding bright light!

"What the-!" The archer woman screamed and shielded her eyes.

"Flash grenade arrows. Courtesy of my dad." Allie said before knocking the woman out with one punch. _Three more… _Allie thought. _Just three more…_

Then a powerful blow was delivered to Allie's shoulder, and she heard bone crunch. Her arm immediately dropped on an unnatural angle, and pain rocketed through her body. She glanced back to see Warbird with her mace. She hit Allie again in the chest, and the girl flew into the arena wall, where Warbird punched her in the abdomen.

Allie screamed and fell to the ground, her vision starting to blur. "You've got skill, Queen. More than I expected." Warbird acknowledged. "But you aren't even close to beating me. Not even remotely close."

The large woman who's mind Allie had manipulated came in from behind, and grabbed for Warbird. The winged warrior simply chuckled and struck the giant in the chest, moving in liquid motion. The woman stopped silent, and then blood erupted from her mouth as her insides began to fall apart, destroyed by the sheer force of the blow. The giant fell back, dying painfully and slowly.

"I'm a lot of things, you see, but cruel isn't one of them." Warbird sighed and brought her sword down on the woman's heart, killing her swiftly.

"Yeah, you're just wreathing with mercy." Allie rolled her eyes, talking through the pain. Her body was becoming a rainbow of purple and yellow bruises, and she was far too dazed to stand.

The remaining women gathered around them. "Kill her already Warbird!" One shrieked.

"Yeah, kill her!" Another chided. They broke into a sadistic chant. "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"

"Shut up." Warbird said bluntly to the crowd, closing her eyes for a moment. She extended her hand, and hesitantly, Allie took it. Warbird helped the blonde heroin to her feet. "This girl right here, most of you are twice her age… and she could have kicked any one of your asses." Warbird turned around to face the crowd. "I've been appointed as the main recruiter here on Earth. And there for, it's my authority to decide who is Fury material, and who isn't. And Allie Queen just raised the bar." Warbird smiled.

"What…?" A Fury-wannabe asked, her eyes widening.

"You heard me. As of today, none of you qualify. You're done. Report to the mines tomorrow to start your slave labor, assuming Granny doesn't just decide to have you all killed for wasting her time."

"You can't be serious!" Another wannabe screamed.

"Actually, I am." Warbird held out her sword threateningly. "Now I suggest you get out of here, before I start to _prove _how serious I am."

Within minutes, the arena had been cleared of the pissed of harpies. Warbird turned to Allie, her expression still showing no warmth to speak of. "I just saved your life, Queen."

"I kind of figured that out already. But, uh… why?" Allie asked.

"Compassion is something Goodness doesn't teach you. In fact, she goes out of her way to make sure you never learn it. But unlike every other damn Apokoliptian lackey, I see the value in it." Warbird smiled. "And I've been waiting a long time to meet someone around here who shares that. I saw when you took down Zafina, the one with the katana, you made sure you didn't land a fatal blow. You always made sure you refrained from making a kill… and honestly, that's something I never expected to see in a million years."

"Ok… so, forgive my skepticism, but how does one of Granny Goodness's lackeys like you get to have… you know… a heart?"

"I'm a bit more complicated than the rest." Warbird grinned only for a second, and then her expression went back to emotionless. "I could tell you all about myself for hours, but that wouldn't make a difference. Right now, what matters is you get to live another day. And this should save some of Black Mask's torture, at least for a while. Granny will want to see you in person soon, once I report back on what happened here. And she'll want you in perfect condition. So BL will lay off the torture until then."

"Ok, again… thanks?" Allie shrugged. "Then what?"

"Then you're just like the rest. And for that, I am truly, deeply sorry." Warbird began to walk away. "Just remember, I bought you a couple more days before your life went all the way to hell."

"Thanks a lot." Allie muttered. Two large guards came to pick Allie up and take her back to the dungeons of The Hole, where the thousands of other tortured and abused children were kept. It was easily Allie's least favorite place. It seemed like a pit of endless suffering. Every day more children died, and the bodies were never even taken care of. They were just left to rot among the living. Most of them didn't even care. They were too busy being brainwashed into complete and utter loyalty to Darkseid. Allie found it absolutely sickening.

Having no other option, Allie went willingly with the guards. Black Mask awaited by the exit, and he spied Warbird, as she withdrew her motherbox.

"Leaving so soon, Ms. Stewart?" He called. "You could always stick around for a while, help me torture the kiddies."

"Go to hell." Warbird called back, no fear in her tone whatsoever. She worked alongside Granny Goodness, who ranked much, much higher than Black Mask. She knew very well that he couldn't touch her without signing his own death warrant.

As Allie witnessed this brief exchange, a few tumblers began working in her mind, and she flashed a glance back to Warbird. "Ms. Stewart?" No response. Allie didn't need one. It all made sense now… the wings, the eyes, the weapons… "You're a League Kid!" Allie shouted as Warbird disappeared through the Boom Tube.

Warbird, Earth's recruiter for the Furies, Granny Goodness's main lieutenant, one of Apokolips's finest warriors… was the daughter of John and Shayera Stewart.

**(Coast City – Three Hours Later)**

Tommy, Alex, Jesse, Quinton, Flo, Ethan and Troy walked through the crowded, dismal streets of the ruined Coast City. The people there were just like the ones everywhere else… hungry, sick, dying, and broken. They wandered the streets aimlessly, most on their way to the slave pits where they would be forced to work for fourteen straight hours. Sometimes more, if they're progress was slow. There was no happiness among the dark, destroyed, dismal city. No joy, no compassion, no love. Only contempt, hate, sadness, madness, and starvation.

Coast City was just like every other city under Darkseid's rule. And they could all be described by one word. Hell.

Just walking among these streets, watching the suffering unfold, made Tommy's rage boil. His vision became a hazy red, and he hoped that no one spoke to him, for fear that he would explode and attack them.

It wasn't just Tommy. Almost everyone was horribly unsettled by all of this. The only two who it didn't seem to bother were Jesse and Alex. Jesse had grown up on such streets, and Alex had been on the run for who-knows-how-long in them. They were used to this, and it didn't even faze them. They had seen it all before.

"So this buddy of yours…" Troy asked uneasily, his gaze flitting to Alex. "How do we find him?"

"Shouldn't be hard." Alex shrugged. "Just look for the biggest fight, and he'll be there."

"Are there Secret Police out here?" Flo asked. "It seems stupid that we're just wandering around in the open."

"There are Secret Police everywhere." Jesse responded dryly. "We shouldn't even be _able _to walk around like this. Again, it almost seems like Apokolips isn't even trying to kill us anymore."

"It does seem strange that we haven't been attacked yet." Quinton pointed out.

"Yeah, first they just shooed us off to Warworld, then they just left us alone and let us set up camp in the woods, then when we took off we didn't run into any trouble at all. Something doesn't add up. This has all been way too easy." Alex agreed.

"It's called herding the sheep." Ethan chided. "It's pretty simple. They figure if they let us go for a little while, we'll join up with more League Kids, maybe a couple resistance fighters here and there. Once that happens, they can just swoop in and kill us all at once. That way they know there won't be another uprising anytime soon. They just kill all their enemies at once."

"That seems like a stupid plan." Jesse said quickly.

"It's working right now isn't it?" Troy pointed out.

"We shouldn't be traveling in one big group, this is ridiculous. We should split up." Tommy decided.

"Why? So they can pick us off one by one?" Alex interjected.

"No, so that we aren't all in one place when they really _do _make a move! There's no sense in all of us dying because of our own ignorance."

"Right, so it's fine if only half us die because of your brilliant thinking." Jesse rolled his eyes.

"You know what, I think Tommy's right." Troy broke in.

"Me too." Flo decided.

"Whatever." Alex shrugged. "What bothers me is that we have no way to keep in touch."

"Actually, we do." Quinton interrupted. He pulled out a handful of small metal devices… the same devices that had been planted on the backs of their necks at Warworld. "I modified these things a little bit. They still access the brain, but now their primary function is as a communication device. They should transfer our thoughts back and forth, kind of like radio waves."

"Should?" Flo questioned.

"Well… there's a twenty percent chance they'll work."

"And what about the other eighty percent?"

"Um… they fry our brains and we all turn into vegetables." Quinton said meekly.

"Yeah, no thanks Q. We'll keep it traditional." Tommy looked to Ethan. "If Ethan's group runs into trouble, he'll send up a flare. If my group runs into trouble, I will." Tommy said as he pulled a small flare gun from the utility belt he had concealed.

"Works for me." Quinton muttered, putting the devices away.

"Ok, this is how it's going to work. Jesse and Troy, you guys are with me. Ethan, Flo, Alex and Quinton, you four will be the other group. We'll split up and search opposite ends of the city. If any of us find this guy, send up the flare to let the others know. If there's trouble, same thing. Simple enough?"

Everyone nodded. "Ok then, let's get moving." Tommy said as he, Jesse and Troy broke off from the rest of the group.

Little did they know, things were about to get a lot more complicated.

**(Apokolips – Grayven's new Warship – Same Time)**

"How generous of father to give me such a nice ship." Grayven smiled and looked to the three-hundred parademons and two-hundred drones he had been supplied for the mission. "Father must really want these brats dead. He's never this open minded."

"Are you just about done talking to yourself, Grayven?" A thick, booming voice uttered from the cockpit. Kalibak had been assigned as Grayven's second in command, and no doubt Darkseid's watch dog on the whole operation.

"Yes, yes. Just open the damned Boom Tube already." Grayven ordered. "I plan to be back within a couple of hours anyway. Killing this little gaggle of miscreants shouldn't be too much of a bother."

"Don't underestimate them." Kalibak warned. "They took down Deathstroke."

"That means absolutely nothing to me." Grayven said bluntly. "Especially not now. Now that I know all their strengths and weaknesses, inside and out."

"And how exactly do you know that?" Kalibak asked aggressively.

"Because, brother, we have an agent on the inside."


	9. Ambush

Chapter Nine: Ambush

"This is stupid." Jesse grumbled. "We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Alex said to look for a fight." Troy shrugged.

"This guy probably doesn't even exist." Tommy muttered. "I find it hard to believe that _another _League Kid survived just running around the streets."

"Well what could Alex possibly have to gain from lying about it?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know, but it wouldn't be the first time he's lied about something. Like when we went to the Memory Core, he just wanted to find out where his sister was."

"Don't blame him." Jesse said quietly, a distant look drifting into his eyes. Troy looked as if he were about to ask a question about Jesse's sister, but Tommy quickly shot him a glare that said _not now_. Troy got the message and kept his mouth shut.

"Maybe he's just stalling. He doesn't want to go to The Hole, so he's using some made up League Kid as an excuse to keep us away for a while." Tommy suggested.

"Bro, are you always so untrusting?" Troy shot him a glance. Jesse chuckled.

"Clearly you don't know your brother very well. He still doesn't trust me." The speedster stated.

"Well in his defense, you are a pathological liar who's tendencies to steal border on kleptomania." Troy responded.

"Well, I don't know what half those words mean. But they're probably true." Jesse shrugged.

"There is something that's been bothering me." Tommy looked directly to Troy. "You're clearly a pretty smart guy. How does that happen growing up in Warworld?"

"Dubbilex."

"What's a Dubbilex?" Jesse asked.

"Wait, the goat-man in the Rejuvenation Room?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. He was actually a pretty good guy. Some kind of Cadmus genetic experiment I guess. Every time I got hurt in the arena, which was pretty often, I'd have to go to him. And he's teach me stuff about, like, everything. Reading, science, math, history, all the basic stuff."

"Boring." Jesse cooed. "None of that will help you here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There's a big difference between being smart, and being book smart." The speedster grinned. "I don't know much about the academic stuff, but when it comes to survival, I'm an absolute genius. And that's all that matters in this world."

Tommy looked down at his feet absently, thoughts flooding his head. _Troy knows a little about everything, Jesse's street-smart, Alex is some kind of science prodigy, Quinton knows everything about everything, Flo has a ton of resources, Ethan is a powerhouse, and Allie… she can keep everybody sane. But what can I bring to the table? I'm good with a knife, and that's about it. I'm useless compared to all of them._

As these subtle thoughts of despair crawled over Tommy, he became so entranced that he didn't even notice the arrow. There was a bright gleam in the sky, and the projectile sailed straight toward Tommy's throat!

In an instant, Troy swept his arm forward and grabbed the arrow just behind the head, snatching it out of the air just before it would have killed Tommy! "Get to cover!" He barked, and the three of them quickly pulled into an alley.

There were two dead bodies lying against the worn brick walls of the alley, men who had starved to death. One was missing a leg, and Tommy realized to his horror that the other man had attempted to eat him! He had probably picked up some sort of disease from the man and died.

"That's horrible…" Tommy muttered as his stomach began to turn.

"Yeah, real sad, now lets please focus on what the hell just happened out there!" Jesse shouted.

"That was a skilled shot. An assassin, probably. A well trained one at that." Troy reasoned quickly.

"An assassin for Apokolips?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Don't think so." Troy looked down at the worn, ancient looking arrow in his hands. There were light remnants of green paint on it, but most of it had now been rusted. The arrowhead, though, was still frighteningly sharp, and shone as if it had been cut recently. "This is pretty primitive for Apokolips. This arrow is old as hell."

"Who's trying to kill us then?" Tommy clenched his fists and peered his head cautiously out of the alley, scanning the nearby rooftops for any sign of the shooter.

"Probably just a collector." Jesse shrugged. "There are a lot of them around these days. People who pick up old weapons and attack anyone who they think has anything of value. Then they auction off what they take to off-duty Apokoliptian soldiers, usually exchanging it for food, clothing, etcetera."

"But some random collector wouldn't be able to pull of a shot like that. It was made from at least a half-mile away." Troy argued.

"And how do you know that?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Because if it were any closer, I would have seen the shooter." Troy said confidently.

"Let me ask you something Troy, is it lonely up there on your pedestal?"

"Excuse me?"

"If _we _couldn't see the shooter, why would you have been able to?"

"I grew up around people who killed to survive. I learned to spot things pretty damn well." Troy's eyes narrowed. "Plus Tommy wasn't even paying attention, and you were too busy taking the knife off of his belt."

"What?" Tommy snapped his head back.

"Tattle tale." Jesse groaned, pulling out Tommy's knife and tossing it to him lightly.

"It doesn't really matter who the shooter was." Tommy said as he slid the knife back into the holster. "We need to keep our heads low. We shouldn't have been walking down the street in broad daylight anyway, that was poor judgment on our part."

Troy looked up toward the sky. Suddenly his eyes opened wide. "Jesse look out!"

"Huh?" Jesse looked up and was greeted with a hard kick to the face. The assailant spun around in mid air and kicked Jesse again, this time in the side of the head, and sent the speedster tumbling onto the ground. The moment the mystery attacker landed, he fired off an arrow straight at Troy, who sidestepped with an inhuman grace.

The arrow plummeted into the decayed brick wall next to Troy's head, and he didn't waste a second glance at it. He threw a punch toward the attacker, but was surprised by the archer's reflexes. He grabbed Troy by the wrist and snapped it upward, the pain making him loosen his stance. The archer then flung Troy hard against the wall and in an instant was holding a knife to his throat, abandoning his bow to grab Troy around the lower part of his neck.

He then spun his hostage around and faced Tommy. The man was dressed dark red body armor, and wore similarly colored hood that was pulled down to where it covered his eyes. Strands of long blond hair poked out from the sides.

Tommy placed his hand near his knife, but dared not draw it for fear that the assailant was slit Troy's throat. "Who are you?" Tommy demanded.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same question." The man asked, his voice disguised by a harmonizer of some sort.

"You a collector?" Tommy pressed on, looking for any weakness in this enemy that he could capitalize on.

"No, I'm what you'd call a visionary. Someone who wants to see the sun shine again."

"Then we have the same goal." Troy huffed.

"I don't believe you. You have ten seconds to convince me." The man decided, sounding deathly serious even through the harmonizer.

"Look man, we're just looking for somebody. We don't want any trouble." Troy insisted.

"Eight seconds."

"We need help getting a friend of ours out of The Hole. There are more of us on the other side of the city."

"How many more?"

"Just four. We're kind on the run right now, and-"

"Five seconds."

"We're League Kids, ok? That spiky-haired kid who you knocked out a second ago, his names Jesse West. His dad was Wally West, the Flash. And the guy you're holding right now, his parents were Batman and Wonder Woman. He's my brother."

"Let me see your identification tattoo."

"Don't have one." Tommy raised his forearm, revealing bare skin. "I grew up in hiding."

After a long pause, the man made a noise that almost sounded like laughter. He pulled the knife away and shoved Troy forward. "Looks legit. You guys sure as hell aren't Darkseid's agents."

"How to you know that?" Jesse muttered as he got to his feet.

"Because I'm still alive." The man switched off the harmonizer as he spoke, his voice was revealed to be a warm, gentle tone that carried just a hint of amusement. He pulled down his hood, revealing long blond hair and dark, olive skin that seemed somewhat Native American in complexion. And it revealed his sparkling green eyes. Eyes Tommy swore he could recognize from somewhere.

"Who are you?" Tommy demanded again.

"I don't give out my name, for what I think are pretty obvious reasons." The guy said solemnly. "But people around here have come to call me Red Hood."

"Red Hood? That's a legacy name." Troy said cautiously. "It was used by a couple different villains before the invasion."

"Trust me, I didn't pick the name. To be honest I don't even know where the hell it came from." The guy pulled the hood back over his eyes, and then pulled a crimson red bandana up to cover his mouth and jaw. "What's you guys's story? And make it quick."

"Tommy Grayson. I grew up in what used to be the Justice Cave, but after a series of unfortunate events, I'm here. I'm the son of Donna Troy and…" Tommy paused, not wanting to explain the situation regarding his father. "And somebody else."

"Troy Prince." Troy started. "Son of Batman and Wonder Woman, born during the final year of the invasion. After Earth officially lost the war, my aunt Cassie raised me in hiding for a couple of years. But then she wound up dead too, and I was taken to Warworld at age six. I've been fighting ever since."

Tommy looked at Troy strangely. He had never mentioned an aunt before. It made Tommy wonder just how much else he didn't know about his new brother.

"Jesse West." Jesse chided. "Son of-"

"I know who you are." Hood interrupted. "You cheated a buddy of mine out of a whole crate of canned foods a couple years back."

"That's probably true." Jesse shrugged.

"Our turn." Tommy stepped forward. "Why did you attack us?"

"I heard you guys saying you were looking for a League Kid. I thought you were Secret Police coming to hunt down Corey." Red Hood explained.

"Corey?" Troy and Tommy said in unison.

"Who the hell is Corey?" Tommy barked.

"Wait a minute, you guys don't even know?" Hood grinned behind the bandana. "How can you claim to be rebels without knowing about Corey?"

"Is he a League Kid?" Troy inquired.

Red Hood nodded. "He's the only person to ever escape The Hole."

"That's who we're looking for!" Jesse shouted. "We uh- we just didn't know his name."

"Why you looking for Corey?" Hood asked, the faint hint of a threat in his voice.

"We need his help. Do you know where he is?" Troy asked.

"Yeah, I live with him." Hood turned and began to walk away.

"Ok… so where do you live?"

"Can't tell you that."

"Why not?"

"Because you _don't _find Corey. Corey finds you."

"Please." Tommy put his hand on the blonde's shoulder. "It's important."

"Huh… look, kid, it's not that I don't want to take you. It's that I fear for your safety. Corey doesn't like outsiders."

"We he's going to have to live with it. And don't call me 'kid' ever again."

There was a long moment of silence, and eventually Hood laughed. "You're tough. I like that. But it won't make a difference with Corey. Tough and quarter will get you twenty-five cents around here."

"I'll take my chances." Tommy narrowed his eyes. "If I could take down Deathstroke and Mongul, I'm pretty sure I can handle some punk with a temper."

"Wait… Deathstroke?" Red Hood turned around, suddenly interested. "You took down Deathstroke, no bullshit?"

"Jesse saved his broken mask as proof." Tommy nodded, and Jesse pulled the souvenir from one of the large hidden pockets on the inside of his jacket, flashing it proudly.

"Nice work. I hated that son of a bitch." Red Hood laughed. "So did Corey. That might buy you a conversation with him."

"So you'll take us to see him?"

"Hmmm…" Hood seemed to ponder it for a long moment. "I'll take you under one condition."

"What is it?" Tommy asked cautiously.

"If he gets pissed, we all say you guys forced me to bring you."

"Fine by me."

"Alright then." Hood turned and opened up manhole, and started to step into the darkness below. "You guys coming or what?"

"The sewers? Seriously?" Jesse rolled his eyes. "Do you know how many times I've had to sleep in a stupid sewer?"

"We can't have anyone following us. You can either take my route, or turn back." Hood said solemnly.

"I'm going whether you two are or not." Tommy stated, pushing past Troy and Jesse. Troy stopped him and began to whisper.

"Hey Tommy, what's going on with you? Why are you so insistent on finding this Corey kid?"

"Because we need Allie." Tommy's eyes blazed. "And I'm getting her free. No matter what."

**(Ruins of Coast City – West Side)**

Alex, Flo, Quinton and Ethan found the rubble of what used to be a bar, and sat down under a chunk of warped, rusted metal that used to be the pole for a billboard. "We've cleared most of the area, and there's been no sign of this guy. I think this is a waste of time." Quinton stated bluntly.

"I agree with Dexter over there." Ethan grumbled. "We've been walking around this damn town for hours."

"Dexter?" Quinton raised an eyebrow.

"You know, like Dexter's Lab? That old cartoon?"

"No."

"Come on, nerdy kid with the orange hair, just like you?"

"Not a clue. Should I be offended?"

"Probably."

"I see."

"Hold on-" Alex raised his hand. "Ethan, how do you know about that stuff? Television hasn't been broadcast since after the invasion."

"Kalibak has some of his technicians stream old Earth cartoons on his personal channel. His favorite is Dora the Explorer." Ethan grinned.

"And since television signals are like electromagnet waves, you can like, intercept them?" Alex's eyes opened wide.

"Yeah. I have this weird sorta' psychic link to all forms of electricity. I can't explain it, it's like I'm just… connected to it."

"Well then this changes everything." Alex got to his feet excitedly.

"How so?" Quinton asked.

"Because this guy we're looking for, Corey, he uses a powerful EMP field generator that he stole when he escaped from The Hole. It puts up a continuous field around him that negates any technology that could possibly detect him. That's how he's managed to stay under the radar all these years. And to be honest, I studied it to figure out how to build my EMP gauntlet." Alex said quickly, running the information off like he had just had an epiphany.

"Wait a minute…" Quinton leaned forward, beginning to understand.

"What's going on? I don't get it?" Flo looked out, confused.

"EMP stands for Electro Magnetic Pulse." Quinton grinned. "And if Ethan can mentally intercept electromagnetic waves-"

"Then he should be able to detect Corey!" Alex finished the sentence.

"Hold on, it doesn't work like that guys." Ethan shook his head. "I don't really know how to make it happen. Whenever I link up to that sort of thing, I never do it on purpose. It seems like it just sort of, you know, hits me."

Alex seemed to think for a moment, but it was Quinton who got an idea. He leapt to his feet and ran toward the rubble of the bar. "Q? Where are you going?" Flo called out.

"Lemons!" Quinton shouted back.

"What…?" Flo looked to Alex. "Lemons?"

"I have no idea." Alex shook his head.

Quinton started digging aggressively through the debris, using the gauntlet he had taken from the Aquaship to create a solid-water shovel. After several minutes, he let out a very pronounced "Ah-ha!" Then he turned and shouted, "Alex! Get over here!"

"Um… ok." Alex shrugged awkwardly and ran over to Quinton. He looked down to see that he found a rotted, wooden cellar door with a steel padlock. "Quinton, what the hell is this? And more importantly, what does it have to do with lemons?"

"Just break the lock, please." Quinton instructed. Alex sighed, but did as he was told and used a powerful magnetic pull to snap the lock. Then Quinton kicked open the cellar door and ran down the rotted concrete stairs. A few minutes later, he came up carrying an armful of lemons.

"Quinton, what is going on?" Flo demanded, watching strangely as Quinton made his way over to them, careful not to drop any of the lemons.

"Food saver bags. They do wonders." Quinton said as he carefully lined the lemons up in front of Ethan.

"Dude, what is going on?" Ethan barked.

"Ok, I had a bit of a brainstorm." Quinton smiled proudly. "We're in a bar right? And bars always have lemons. And lemons, are the answer to all of our problems."

"How so?" Flo couldn't help but smile as the question escaped her lips.

"Ok, Ethan is like a rechargeable battery." Quinton began to explain. "His strength is directly linked to how much power he has stored up. And right now, he is on a relatively low charge. Am I correct?"

"Yeah." Ethan nodded. "So what?"

"So if you were on a full charge, all of your powers would be greater. _Including _your ability to detect electromagnetic waves."

"Uh-huh. So where do lemons fit into all of this, again?"

"They're going to recharge you!" Quinton shouted as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We're going to make a huge lemon-battery, and use it to charge you up!"

"Just one problem with that Q, we need a way to hook this up!" Alex interjected. "We need wires, clamps, all that good stuff. And I doubt we're going to find any of that just lying around."

"Luckily, I came prepared." Quinton smiled and pulled out the devices from Warworld, that induced rage.

"Those things again? I thought we agreed we shouldn't use those?" Flo inquired.

"Wrong. We agreed that we shouldn't use them for _communication_. But that doesn't mean they can't have other uses. They have small batteries, which means they also have everything we need for this to work. Alex, if you would be so kind…"

"Sure." Alex laughed a little and put out a complex magnetic pulse, which he used to disassemble the small devices. Once the components fell out in Quinton's hand, he picked out the wires that had previously connected to the battery, and went to work with his lemons.

Soon he had them all linked up, and then attached the final two clamps to Ethan's ears. "I feel like an idiot." Ethan grumbled.

"Just go with it." Flo laughed.

"Is it working?" Quinton asked eagerly.

After a second, Ethan broke out laughing. "It actually is! It isn't too much of a charge… but…" There was a moment of silence. Then his eyes opened wide. "I think I got it!"

"Seriously?" A look of disbelief flashed across Alex's face.

"Yeah, I can feel it." Ethan said confidently. "He's not too far from here."

"Q you're a genius!" Flo shouted, and pulled him in a brief hug. Quinton stepped out of the hug red-faced and babbling.

"I- uh… lemons… nice… thank you." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away.

"Let's get moving then. We don't have any time to waste. Ethan, lead the way. I'll signal the others and tell them to meet up with us." Alex instructed, and Ethan began to turn and focus in the exact location of their quarry.

And then everything went downhill from there.

There was a thundering crash, and the wall of debris exploded behind them. Ethan was blasted onto the ground by the sheer force of the explosion, and looked up to see dozens of figures looming out of the smoke. Apokoliptian Drones. And leading them was a massive, ashy-gray figure with a wicked red glare in his eyes.

"You must be the new generation of Justice Brats." The man said in a bemused voice. "Rumor has it you've been giving my father some trouble. I can't imagine how, seeing you scramble around like this."

"Who is that?" Flo shouted.

"Grayven." Ethan growled.

"Who?" Alex chimed.

"I read about him." Quinton got to his feet. "He's Darkseid's son. He was disowned though, immediately hated by his own father. He went on to battle the Green Lantern Corps a few times, before fleeing for his life from Darkseid himself. He hasn't been seen since."

"Yes, yes, a rather tainted legacy, I know." Grayven half-frowned. "But that's all going to change very soon. My father has entrusted me with killing you all, and _when _I succeed, I shall gain a seat of power over Earth. My command will be second only to Darkseid's. And of course, that will only be until I overthrow him."

"In your dreams, bitch." Ethan grumbled. Then his lower body erupted into a blaze of electricity, and he rocketed toward the villain.

"Stupid kid." Grayven chuckled, and fired a blast of laser-vision from his demonically red eyes. Immediately, Ethan was blasted out of the air, blood spraying from his shoulder like a fountain.

He tumbled across the ground toward Grayven, who proceeded to stomp directly on his chest, causing a deafening crash and dirt to rise up in a cloud around them.

"Ethan!" Flo screamed. She drew her water-swords, but before she could even make a move, a small blue drone opened up its chest, revealing what looked like a stereo system. It then blasted a powerful vibration that disrupted her swords, and the water fell in a puddle around her feet.

She ducked to the side to avoid a strike from an oncoming drone, but was too slow and received a concussion. She fell hard on the ground, blood running from her forehead, and she was grabbed and held in a headlock.

Alex came around back and raised a chunk of sharp metal, attempting to impale Grayven from behind. But then an unnatural heat-wave erupted out, canceling the magnetic field holding up the metal. It fell, and Alex was suddenly left without a weapon. Grayven turned and struck him in the ribs. Blood fired from Alex's mouth and a wave of pain and nausea erupted in his body.

He fell to his knees, dazed, and saw that the heat-wave had come from a transmitter in Grayven's hand. "How…?"

"We came prepared, you see." Grayven gloated. "We know everything you brats can do, inside and out. We know all your weaknesses, and how to use them." The villain knelt down and breathed directly in Alex's face. "I bet you're wondering how we obtained that information… and I'll tell you. I promise I will. Right before you die. And I'll be overjoyed as I watch the sudden, painful realization flood over you as you take your final breathes."

"Sick – bastard." Alex choked out. Then he was struck again, in the head this time, and his vision went dark.

Grayven turned and raised Ethan into the air, and slammed his broken-form against the back of another drone. "Now, we'll use you to find your little friends…"

"He'll never tell you anything!" Flo screamed, struggling and failing to get free from her choke-hold.

"Such fire, for an Atlantean girl. I like that." Grayven smiled. "But you see, he doesn't need to tell us anything. Because all we care about is what's on his mind…"

At that moment a new figure stepped forward, a ghostly pale man with his brain showing out the top of his head. "Hello Grayven." The man said dryly.

"Welcome, Psimon." Grayven threw Ethan on the ground in front of the man. "Glad you could join us."

"Anything to keep from ending up on Darkseid's bad side." Psimon reached down and touched his hand to Ethan's head, and effortlessly began to sift through the young mans thoughts.

"Get out of my head!" Ethan screamed. As soon as he tried to struggle, Grayven blasted him again.

"You see kid, I'm probably the world's greatest telepath. And I'm reading you like a book." Psimon taunted. He stood up a second later, and smacked Ethan unconscious. "I know where the target is. I've done my part."

"And you've done it well." Grayven acknowledged. "Now we'll lead my army to rest of these… _League Kids_, and spill their blood before my father himself." Grayven turned to his drones. "Take these prisoners and board the ship. We're headed to find the rest!"

"What about the fourth?" Psimon chimed in. "The one called Quinton?"

"He is clearly a coward. He fled at the first sign of danger. He is of no threat to us." Grayven waved his hand dismissively. "Come now. It's almost sunset, and I expect to have this over with by dark."

"Very well, General Grayven."

**(Ruined Bar- Cellar – Same Time)**

Quinton watched the event happen from the dark of the cellar. He saw Flo struggling to get free, and felt a powerful urge to rush out and help her. But he knew that would be pointless. He wouldn't be of any help to her alone. Once the enemies had all boarded the ship and began to fly off towards their next attack, Quinton stepped out into the daylight.

"I need help."


	10. Rebels

**I'm happy to announce that this story is finally off its hiatus! I've done a lot of thinking, and have finally decided where I want this story to go! I should start updating pretty consistently again, and I hope you all continue reading after that long hiatus I put you through! **

**() - Thanks for the late review you gave, I will absolutely read Legacies and I'm happy to bounce ideas. And as for background on The Invasion, check out the new poll on my profile and vote… you just might get your wish!**

**Please review!**

Chapter Ten: Rebels with a Cause

"Shit." Quinton grumbled. In a flash, everyone was gone. Flo, Alex, Ethan, gone. "I need help." Q repeated as he paced back and forth. "Tommy, Jesse and Troy… they're still out there, as far as I know. I just need to find them. Where are they? Shit."

Out the corner of his eye, Quinton caught a glimpse of someone watching him from behind a ruined wall. In a quick blur, they were gone. "What the…?" Q moved over to the wall and peered around it. No one. "Weird. I could have sworn I saw somebody." Quinton turned around and promptly collided with another figure. They both fell to the ground.

Quinton recuperated first, and got a good look at his stalker. It was a girl, about his age, maybe a bit younger. She had long, dark hair with a purple streak down one side. She was dressed in an old, oversized Slipknot t-shirt and wore dark colored jeans. She was pale, and very thin, but not nearly as emaciated as most. She looked up at him, revealing beautifully deep eyes, which were a strange shade of hazel… almost golden.

"Who the hell are you?" Quinton asked, quickly deciding she wasn't much of a threat. She looked scared. Without a word, she took off running in the other direction. Quinton used the Atlantean gauntlet Flo had given to create a hard-water lasso, which he quickly roped around her feet, toppling the girl onto the hard ground. "I asked a question."

"Tropelet!" She shouted, and suddenly her body flashed with a bright golden light, and she appeared several feet behind Quinton. They both seemed shocked by this. "No way! It worked!" She exclaimed in celebration.

"Interesting… you're a homo magi." Quinton mused as he adjusted his shades.

"…What?"

"People with an affinity for magic. I read a few books on you, but I didn't realize there were any left alive. Which brings me to another question… what are you doing here?"

"Tropolet!" She shouted again, but this time was less successful. When the light faded, the lower half of her body was planted firmly in the ground, causing her upper body to stick up like a carrot. "Damn it! Should've known it wouldn't work twice in a row…"

Quinton formed a liquid shovel from the gauntlet, and walked up to her. "Look, I'll dig you out of there. But first you have to answer my questions. Starting with, who exactly are you?"

"Alright, um… my name is Fate. My last name is debatable, so we'll leave that alone for now."

"Fate. Alright." Quinton nodded. "Question number two: Why were you stalking me?"

"I wasn't. I was watching Tommy." She folded her arms. "I just kind of… lost track of him. And I figured you guys would meet up with soon, so I stuck behind you."

"Ok then… why were you following Tommy? And for how long?"

"I started spying after you all escaped from Warworld. That was when I found you. As to why… I had a dream. Or a vision. Or both."

"A dream about what, exactly?"

"I guess it was really more of a vision, sorry I-"

"Get to the point."

"I saw the future, ok? Well, later on I did. First I saw Tommy, I didn't know who he was at the time, but I saw him. And then I saw a different kid, some blond guy. I still don't know who he is."

"And?"

"And they were fighting."

"Tommy and the other guy?"

"Yes. Like, brutally. They were trying to kill each other. And then I saw people burning. Everything burning. Everybody on Earth died, and then there was this voice… I can't recall exactly what it said, but the gist of it was that I had to find Tommy and this other guy, and make sure they didn't kill each other, or else the second part would come true. Everybody would die."

"And you believe this dream to be true, because…?"

"You said it yourself. I'm a homomagnet, or whatever?"

"Homo magi. And that doesn't necessarily mean you can just see the future."

"Well I did." She shrugged.

"Ok, moving on. How are you alive? The homo magi were some of the first people Apokolips set out to eliminate."

"Yeah. So one of the first places they destroyed was Nanda Parbat, a mystical temple in Tibet where-"

"Where monks practice spiritual sorcery, I know what Nanda Parbat is. Go on."

"Yeah, so Apokolips wiped the place out and killed everybody, but then they just left the ruins there, and never really did anything with it. So before they died, my parents sent me there, where I would be safe. There was lots of stuff growing in the gardens to keep me fed, and enough of the temple standing to give me shelter."

"Who were your parents?"

"That's complicated."

"Enlighten me."

"Later. Right now, I'm pretty sure I've got tree roots growing up my pants… so if you don't mind digging me out?"

"One more question. Why the hell did you run away from me?"

"I, uh… I've never really interacted with anyone else before. In fact, this is the first time I've ever had a conversation with anybody living. Sure, I'd talk to the spirits in the temple now and then, but they're pretty boring and-"

"So basically, you were nervous?"

"Try terrified."

"Alright then. I have come to one conclusion. You are insane." Quinton sighed. And then he began to dig.

"Am I?"

"Yes. Oh, and one more condition…"

"What now?"

"If I dig you out of there, you have to help me find Tommy and the others."

"Well I was already planning on that."

"Good."

Within forty minutes, Fate had been completely removed from the ground. "Ok, now for my end of the deal. I can track your friends."

"How?"

"I'll need something with their aura on it. Like a piece of clothing, or some jewelry."

"Would hair work?"

"Um… yeah, sure."

"I have some of Flo's hair right here." Quinton said, and began to rummage through his pockets. After a moment he had withdrawn a few locks of silvery hair.

"Why did you have that in your pocket?" Fate inquired.

"Um… that isn't important right now." Quinton stated quickly. "You can track her with this, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Ok then, lets get to it."

"Just give me a minute to cast the spell."

"A spell? Really?" Quinton asked skeptically.

"Yeah. Oh, and you might want to hide behind something. Last time I tried this I blew up a temple."

**(Sewers on the other end of the City)**

"Not certain of the date right now. I'll ask Q next time I see him, he always keeps track. Long story short, Jesse, Troy and I are on our way to meet Corey, who can supposedly get us into The Hole. And then we can save Allie. And possibly pick up a Kryptonian, if Ethan's right. I don't know exactly what to say right now, other than this… we – will – win. This is Tommy Grayson, signing out." Tommy turned off the video journal and slid it into his pocket, taking a deep breath as he did so.

"Why do you do that?" Troy asked carefully. The question hung pregnant into the air for several minutes before Tommy answered.

"It helps keep me sane. It's a way to put my thoughts into words, without having to worry if someone is really listening. And… I guess it brings me hope, you know? Hope that one day, someone will hear what I recorded, know what I went through. What we all went through. It brings me peace of mind to know that I won't just be forgotten. That someone, somewhere, will hear my story, and remember us all. When I die, I won't just fade out, I won't disappear. I'll continue to live on, through my words."

"Weird." Jesse sighed. "I'm just the opposite. I don't want to be remembered."

"Why not?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Because memories are just like a criminal record. People remember the bad things in life, and leave out all the rest. If I have to choose between being remembered as a low-life con artist, or not being remembered at all… then I want to be forgotten.

"It doesn't have to be like that Jesse." Tommy said quietly.

"Yeah man, it does." Jesse dropped his gaze. "You have no idea."

"What are you talking about Jess?" Troy groaned. "Have a little faith in yourself for once!"

"Last time somebody put any faith in me, they died!" Jesse snapped. "I'm not a hero, ok? I'm a runner. That's what I do. I get what I can get, and I run away."

"Then why are you here?" Tommy barked, glaring into Jesse's eyes. "If you're such a bad guy, then why the hell have you stuck around this long?"

"Because I get what I can." Jesse narrowed his gaze. "And you guys are the closest thing I've ever gotten to friends."

"Jesse… we spend most of our time arguing, man. Are we really friends."

"I don't know Tommy! I have nothing to compare it to!"

There was silence. "Come on guys; don't get all emotional right now." Troy moaned.

"Better they get it out now then when they meet Corey." Red Hood warned.

"What's so bad about this Corey guy, anyway?" Troy raised an eyebrow?

"Bad? There's nothing really bad about him… you just have to be careful. He spent the first half of his life in The Hole, remember. He doesn't trust much outside himself. And that makes him pretty, uh… edgy."

"Sounds like somebody else I know." Jesse muttered, glancing away from Tommy.

"At least I can face reality." Tommy muttered back.

"What does that mean?"

"You can't take anything seriously, Jesse! That's what really pisses me off about you, alright? You act like everything is one big joke. People lives are at stake. The freedom of the human race is at stake. And you can't stop laughing at the world long enough to see that."

"You think I don't know?" Jesse exclaimed. "Of course I know what's at stake, Grayson! I think about it all the time. I slip up, people could die. The truth is, I'm afraid Tommy! What we're doing, it scares the hell out of me. And when you treat it like a joke, well… it stops feeling so threatening. There's less pressure. And I keep telling myself that I don't have to take it seriously, because I'm terrified that I'll mess up and get you guys killed!" A tear ran down Jesse's cheek. "I can't go through that again, ok?"

"Again?" Troy chimed in.

"His sister." Tommy said quietly, having pretty much caught on now that her death had somehow been Jesse's fault.

"We're here." Hood said as they came to a dead end in the sewer tunnel.

"What? There's nothing here!" Jesse shouted.

"What is this?" Tommy growled, placing on hand on his knife.

"Calm down, will you? You didn't Corey would just leave the entrance to his place sitting out in the open, did you?" Hood placed his hand on a brick in the wall, and pressed it inward. On the far end of the circular brick room, a large number of bricks began to push apart from each other, revealing a sterling white elevator door.

"And elevator?" Troy took a step back. "Where is that thing going to take us?"

"Where else? Up." Hood replied as he touched the doors, and they slid open. He stepped confidently into the elevator. "You guys coming or not?"

"I guess we've got nothing to lose." Tommy sighed, and followed him in. Troy and Jesse entered reluctantly a moment later. The elevator began to rocket upwards with surprising speed, and after a matter of seconds, came to a complete halt. The doors slid open, revealing a sterling white room, complete with a large couch and a flat-screen TV. There was a gigantic window on the far side of the room, giving a view of the ocean.

"What is this place?" Troy asked in bewilderment.

"This is what used to be Titans Tower. Now it's our sanctuary." Hood answered.

"Titans Tower? As in, Teen Titans?" Jesse asked.

"Yup."

"Hold on, isn't this place, you know, on an island?"

"Yeah. That sewer tunnel was designed as a backup passage."

"Ok, but… how is Apokolips not finding this place? It kind of sticks out, you know!"

"The entire island is covered by Corey's EMP Field Generator. It blocks us from all forms of radar, and he uses his powers to constantly cloak the island itself, making it invisible to outside eyes. It's the perfect hideout, because nobody even knows it's here."

"Nice!" Jesse exclaimed, zooming over to the couch.

"Yeah. A bit too nice." Troy said evenly.

"I agree." Tommy nodded. "Are you telling me this place was left completely untouched in the invasion?"

"No, of course not. Corey's done a lot of fixing up over the years, and most of the floors aren't nearly as nice as this one yet." Hood responded. "Like I said, this was HQ for the Teen Titans, and they were actually some of the last to fall during the invasion. Apokolips decided that a bunch of teenagers weren't a main priority."

"All I know is, they've got TV." Jesse chimed in. He reached for a remote, when suddenly the speedster was plucked from his seat and hurled into a wall. Jesse hit with a loud grunt, and fell to the floor in a heap.

"What the hell was that?" Tommy demanded as he drew his knife. No sooner than he had done this, an invisible force grabbed a hold of him and he was smashed directly into the Troy. The brothers stumbled to their feet, and suddenly found that neither of them could move. It was as if they had been paralyzed. Then a person materialized in front of them. He was tall, in his early or mid twenties, with pale skin and a ragged red t-shirt over a pair of brown pants. His eyes were a dark green color. His hair was brown and short, while a five-o'clock shadow rested on his jaw. There was a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and a fierce look on his face.

"Hood, you brought outsiders here?" He asked in a strong voice, looking directly at the Red Hood.

"They're cool." He promised, pulling down his hood to reveal his dirty-blond hair, which completely contradicted his dark skin tone. "They're League Kids."

"That means nothing to me. I don't trust a League Kid any more than anyone else." The man barked as he shot Tommy a glare. "Especially not one who pulls Apokoliptian weapons at the first sign of danger."

"What?" Tommy gasped in confusion.

"That knife of yours. Do you even realize it's forged from Apokoliptian steel?"

"It was a gift from my father." Tommy said coolly. Suddenly, he felt himself lose control of his arm, and he involuntarily held the knife out for the smoking man to take. He reached out and plucked the knife from Tommy's grip, looking it over carefully. "You had better give that back right now, if you know what's good for you." Tommy threatened.

"You are no position to be making threats, kid." The smoking man snapped, and suddenly Tommy was overcome by a wave of nauseating pain that put him down on his knees, trembling and fighting not to scream. "I'm in control here." After a moment, the pain ceased, and the smoker handed Tommy the knife back. "It's made from the same metal as the Entropy Aegis. Originally an Imperiex drone, but Apokoliptian forces remodeled it into one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. Superman refused to wear it, but it eventually went to Steel, who used it during the war. Chris will be anxious to see it."

"What are you talking about?" Tommy demanded. "Who is Chris?"

"You'll meet him soon. Probably." The man put out his cigarette and looked at Hood. "What in the hell possessed you to bring them here? You know how I feel about outsiders."

"They said they're friends of Ricochet. And the kid with the knife, he took down Deathstroke. And apparently they're also the ones who brought down Warworld. I figured we could use them."

"I decide who we use." He snapped, but then seemed to calm down. "Although, that is an impressive record."

"So are you going to kill us or not? I'm getting pretty pissed off with your tedious crap." Jesse jumped into the conversation aggressively. The man smiled.

"I like you. Jesse West, right?"

"How'd you know-"

"I've been digging around in all of your minds this whole time. I'm Corey."

"Stay the hell out of my mind." Tommy suddenly barked.

"Mine too." Troy growled.

"Actually…" Corey's face suddenly became even more serious. "I _couldn't _read yours." He said, and stepped directly in front of Troy. "It's like you have a mental block against telepathy. The only time I've ever encountered that was with high ranking officials at The Hole. Care to explain?"

"Um… I don't know. Maybe Dubillex put it there?" Troy suggested.

"Dubillex… the psychic from Warworld?"

"Yeah. They were buddies I guess." Jesse shrugged.

"Dubillex would have died when Warworld was destroyed. And any block he had put there would have been diminished." Corey reasoned. "So I'll ask you one more time… why the hell can I not read your mind?"

"I told you I don't know."

"Corey, his parents were Wonder Woman and Batman." Red Hood said. "From what I've heard, it seems likely that one of them would have done something."

"Wonder Woman and Batman huh?" Corey narrowed his eyes. "I'm not an expert, but I have seen pictures of them both. If you're their kid, how did you wind up with light hair and gray eyes? They both had black hair and blue eyes."

"Maybe I got it from a grandparent or something." Troy said with an edgy voice.

"Or maybe you're a damn spy." Corey hissed. "What do you sat to that?"

Without another word, Troy grabbed Red Hood by the arm. "What is your real name?" Troy asked.

"Connor Queen." He said as his eyes flashed gold.

"What are you doing?" Corey demanded.

"I- I couldn't resist that one!" Connor shouted.

"Wait… Queen?" Tommy raised an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

"Screw yourself punk!"

"I got this Tommy." Troy grinned, and tightened his grip on Connor's arm. "How old are you?"

After the question was asked, Connor's eyes lit up gold again. "Twenty-four."

"Ask who his parents are." Tommy added.

"Who are you parents?"

"My mother was a Japanese warrior known only as Shado. My father was Oliver Queen, but he was never aware of my existence."

"Do you know anyone named Allie Queen?"

"No."

"Okay, one more question." Troy grinned. "What do you really think of Corey?"

"Corey is a paranoid self-absorbed son of a bitch and I hope he dies of lung cancer." Connor blurted. Then Troy let go of his arm, and a look of horror passed over Connor's face. "Corey… you gonna kill me now, bro?"

"Get out of here." Corey grumbled, and Connor ran down a stairway. "What did you just do to him?"

"I can force people to tell the truth, as a result of my mother's long exposure to the lasso of truth. It works better through physical contact, but I can also do it by looking people in the eyes. And I sense lies, too. Still doubt that I'm Wonder Woman's kid?"

"Look," Corey said after a long pause. "I know a liar when I see one. And you look like a liar."

Corey then turned toward an elevator. "Come with me. There's something I want to show you people."

"Alright." Jesse said and ran up to him. Troy began to follow, when Tommy planted his hand firmly on his brother's shoulder.

"I didn't know you could do that?"

"It never came up."

"Look, Troy, Corey kind of has a point. There's a lot that we don't know about you, and a lot of your explanations for things seem to have holes in them. I know that for a while you were raised by some mysterious aunt, or something? And then Dubbilex gave you a high school education whenever you were in the infirmary at Warworld? I'm sorry man, some of it just doesn't add up."

"Well then I'm sorry you can't trust me." Troy growled, and then followed behind Jesse.

A few minutes later, the elevator doors had opened up and the four were staring into what had to be the basement of the tower. But now it was filled with dozens of men and women, young and old. Some were working out, some were modifying weapons, some were trying on armor, and some were just hanging around and talking. There was a large wall filled with weapons, ranging from old hunting rifles to military-grade firearms (before the invasion of course) and even some modified Apokoliptian weaponry.

"What is all this?" Tommy awed.

"This is the future." Corey smiled. "This is what will become the Resistance."

"Resistance? As in… against Apokolips?" Jesse asked wide eyed.

"Right. Ninety-two men and women, as of right now. We're bound to grow as the fight escalates."

"Who are you they? Where did you get this many people to fight?" Troy questioned.

"Many of them are P.O.W.'s that I broke out of a prison camp a few years ago. That's also where I got Connor, who's now my top lieutenant. Others are scavengers were picked up on the street, who remember the times before the war and want them to come back. Some were even soldiers who fought against Apokolips when the invasion first began. But regardless of their background, they all have one goal in mind; freedom."

"They're all going to die." Tommy chided.

"Excuse me?"

"Corey, you seem pretty smart. Paranoid off your ass, but smart nonetheless. So how in the world do you honestly believe that you can lead ninety-two people, most of them completely untrained, and expect them to stand even a miniscule chance against Darkseid?"

"Are you questioning my ability to lead this team?"

"No, I'm questioning your ability to lead a team anywhere except to their deaths."

After a moment of silence, Corey lit up another cigarette, and nodded toward a door off to the far left. "Come with me. There's something I want to show you." He led the group across the room. As they moved, all of the soldiers stopped and saluted Corey.

"They really respect you." Troy stated.

"They feel like they owe their lives to me."

"And you're probably going to spend those lives too." Tommy muttered.

As they reached the door, a tall girl with long, sandy blond hair stepped in front of them. She wore heavy body armor, and scanned the group over quickly. "New recruits?"

"Potentially."

"No." Tommy jumped in.

"Whoa…" Jesse's eyes widened when he looked at the girl. "Who are _you_?"

"McKayla Saunders. Former prisoner, until being rescued by Corey."

"McKayla was one of the first to join me in my cause. She has become the combat trainer for the rest of the army."

"Combat trainer?" Jesse snickered.

"Why is that funny?" She demanded.

"Well it's just… what do you way, ninety pounds?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Well you just don't look like much of a fighter to me, sweetheart." Jesse grinned. Suddenly he was pulled toward her and punched in the face, flipping him onto the floor. Jesse zoomed back up toward her, and she flipped him with ease, putting him into a chokehold.

"I could literally break every bone in your upper body right now, from this position." She growled into his ear.

"Please don't do that." Jesse gasped. She shoved him forward, and hit a pressure point that caused his legs to give out, making him fall in a heap on the floor. "Do I still not look like a fighter?"

"I take back every word. How long until I can walk again?"

"Give it twenty minutes and you'll start to feel your legs." She said before heading off in a different direction.

"Just wait here Jess." Troy grinned. Corey, Tommy and Troy continued on through the door that Corey had led them to. They were immediately greeted by the smells of grease and hot metal. On the far side of the room was a man welding. Corey's eyes flashed red, and he sent the man a psychic message. He quickly turned off the welder and removed his welding mask. Turning around to face them with a friendly smile, he revealed long silvery hair and platinum-like skin. "What's up Corey?"

"This is Chris Magnus." Corey nodded. "He's our technician."

"Troy Prince." Troy said to introduce himself.

"Tommy Grayson." The other added.

"Nice to meet you both." Chris stated, shaking both their hands.

"**IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO WIPE YOUR DIRTY FEET BEFORE ENTERING THE LABORATORY? YOU ARE TRACKING MUD!" **A small floating orb scolded with a British accent. A small mechanical arm came out of the orb, and grabbed a mop.

"That might not be mud. We walked through a sewer to get here." Troy admitted.

"**OH, YOUR BODILY FUNCTIONS ARE HORRIBLY SICKENING. HONESTLY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU HUMANS CAN STAND TO LIVE WITH YOURSELVES."**

"What is that thing?" Troy laughed.

"That's Skeets 2.0. He used to follow around the hero known as Booster Gold, but both were killed in the invasion. I salvaged what I could and built that little guy to help me out with projects." Chris explained.

"What kind of projects?" Tommy inquired.

"Creating weapons, mostly. We need an arsenal that can stand up to Apokoliptian technology. I've got a lot of blueprints drawn up, but haven't gotten much done past prototyping."

"You said your last name was Magnus? Where have I heard that before?" Troy inquired.

"Probably thinking of Doc Magnus, the guy who created the Metal Men." Chris smiled proudly.

"So are you like, his son or something?"

"No, he never had a son. I was his last creation."

"Creation? What does that mean?"

Suddenly Chris's body turned into solid steel, and he morphed his hand into a large iron hammer. "Whoa." Troy acknowledged.

"I'm the first ever Organic Robot. A living being with various nanobots mixed in with the cells, which upon command can access my molecular coding to a degree and modify it. To dumb it down, I can basically transform my body into any material in the nanobot's database."

"So for example, if you wanted to turn into glass…?" Tommy prompted. In response, Chris morphed into a glass figure of himself.

"I mostly change into metals. But versatility is always good." He reasoned.

"Listen, Corey…" Tommy turned around with an above-serious expression. "We still haven't told you why we're here."

"And why would that be?" Corey inquired, pulling a chair from one of Chris's many tables to sit down. Tommy did the same.

"Well like we told you, we're friends of Alex-"

"You mean Ricochet?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Ricochet that thieving bastard." Corey grumbled.

"What?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Connor wasn't always my top lieutenant. For a long time, that was Ricochet. But he had little interest in total liberation. All he really wanted to do was take out Granny Goodness, on some convoluted revenge scheme."

"Goodness? He's never mentioned her before."

"He won't, he's tricky that way. He'll lull you into trusting him, until he has you blindly following whatever he says. And that's when he uses to get what he wants. The son of a bitch wanted to take all our troops and raid some base that he thought Goodness might be in. He was willing to risk everyone's life on a hunch! I told him no, and he got pissed and tore apart my entire EMP Field Generator, then he took off. It took Chris three months to rebuild it. That's three freakin' months we all had to hide out in the sewers, all because that asshole Ricochet threw a temper tantrum!"

"That would explain where he got the tech to build that EMP gauntlet of his." Troy pointed out.

"Build it? He stole that design from me!" Chris interjected.

"He steals everything. That's what thieves do. He's like a super intelligent, manipulative and sneaky version of your friend Jesse. Don't trust him, he's probably planning on screwing you all over too."

"I don't think so." Tommy shook his head. "Alex seems pretty set on our goals."

"Oh really?" Corey leaned forward and took the cigarette out of his mouth. "Has he even told you his last name?"

"Well… no."

"We just figure its something embarrassing, like Hoobermeyer or something." Troy shrugged.

"Heh, that's cute. But you should look into that sometime. I think you'll be surprised." Corey grinned. "Anyway, you were telling me why you came here?"

"Right, yeah…" Tommy snapped back to reality. "A friend of ours, Allie Queen. She's-"

"I know who she is. She's been all over your thoughts this whole time." Corey interrupted. "She's in some kind of trouble, right?"

"Big trouble. You see, a little while ago, we infiltrated Themyscira, and things were going well at first… but then the Furies showed up, and beat the hell out of us. We all woke up in Warworld, except for Allie. She wasn't with us… and after talking it over a bit, we decided she must be at The Hole."

"The Hole? And that's why you came to me, right? You want me to help you get inside to rescue your friend?"

"Yes."

"Sweet. But stupid, and also impossible. I was lucky to get out the first time; there is no way in hell I'm ever going anywhere near there again."

"We need you. Without your help we'll be killed on the spot."

"And _with _my help you'll be killed in an hour, at the most. When I escaped, it was on my own, and it took months of careful planning. There is no way that I can sneak an entire group in there on short notice."

"Then just take me." Tommy narrowed his eyes.

"Tommy-" Troy started to argue but his brother cut him off.

"I'm getting her out of there, with or without a team. That's all there is to it."

"I already told you I am not going back to that place."

"Then draw me a map. You must remember it, right? Just tell me what to do and I'll do it myself."

"They've probably updated all the security since then! And anyway, it wouldn't be possible for you to do what I did. You can't shapeshift."

"I'll improvise."

"You really think you've got all the answers, don't you kid?" Corey grimaced. "Tell me, what if you get to your little friend, and she's already been brainwashed. She doesn't even remember who you are, nor does she care. She's had her mind wiped, and she's training to be the perfect killer. What happens then?"

"That won't happen. Allie's got the strongest will you'll ever find."

"And The Hole has the worst torture you'll ever find."

"All the more reason I need to get her out of there."

"I'm sorry kid, I can't help you. You're welcome to stay the night, and think about joining my army. If you decide not to, then be gone by sunrise." Corey got up and began to leave.

"Please!" Tommy broke in with a shaky voice, looking down to hide the threat of tears in his eyes. "Please, Corey. I've never begged for anything before. But I am begging you… please help me. Allie is the only person I've ever considered a friend, the only person I can say I've ever really cared about… ever loved… and now my friend is trapped in The Hole, and she needs my help!"

"Then your friend is lost. You're gonna' have to face it kid, people come and they go. That's how life works."

"But isn't your goal to change life? Isn't that why you're building this army in the first place?"

"I thought you said they'd all die?"

"They probably would… but Corey, think about how many more people we could bust out of The Hole… how many potential soldiers… a lot of them metas!"

"Figures. You're just like your buddy Alex, willing to sacrifice as many lives as you need to for your own goals."

"I don't want anyone to die! Not your soldiers, not Allie, nobody. I've already got enough blood on my hands Corey…"

"What does that mean?"

"It's my fault Dinah died… its my fault Steppenwolf's planet was destroyed… hell, its even my fault we got captured on Themyscira, its my fault we were even there! So really, it's my fault that Allie is in The Hole right now. I'm done with the guilt Corey."

"Kid-"

"Everything I touch turns to shit! Do you get that now? I'm supposed to lead a team, I'm supposed to take on Apokolips, I'm supposed to save everyone, I'm supposed to do all that when I can't even get my own damn head on straight!" There was a moment of silence before Tommy continued. "I'm tired of watching people die because of me, Corey. And if you help me get Allie out of there, I swear to you, it won't happen. I'll double the size of your army, and make sure you don't lose a single soldier, even if I have to jump in front of all the ammunition myself! I'm not going to have any more blood on my hands Corey. Especially not Allie's. So please, I am begging you, _please _help me out."

"Nice speech kid." Corey turned around to face Tommy. "But answer me this, who came up with the idea that Allie was even in The Hole?"

"I'm pretty sure it was Alex. And don't call me kid again."

"Interesting. Because remember how I said Ricochet wanted to lead my army into some random base on a hunch, that Goodness might be there? Well guess what… it was The Hole. That's the same damn place he wanted to lead my team. He's doing the same to you, the only difference is he has better bait."

"Shut up Corey…"

"You really think Allie's at The Hole? That's just what Ricochet wants you to think, so he can get his way." Corey leaned in closer. "Allie is probably dead at the bottom of a furnace right now. What do you think about that… kid?"

In a blur, Tommy drove a punch right into Corey's left eye. Corey stumbled back and Tommy grabbed him by the throat. Corey tired to overpower Tommy, but his sporadic super strength kicked in and Tommy smashed Corey onto a metal table so hard that it shattered. He held his right hand tightly on Corey's throat, and used the other hand to mercilessly beat him in the face, drawing more blood with each strike. Rage was seething off of Tommy like never before, and the more blood he saw, the more frenzied he became.

Chris morphed his arm into a metal blade, and came around back to impale the young hero. Moving quickly, Troy put Chris in a headlock and flung his face into a wall with thundering force. "You try to stab my brother again; I'll break your damn neck."

Corey managed to get the upper hand on Tommy for a moment, and struck him the face hard enough to draw blood. Tommy turned back around quickly, and Corey was surprised to see that the wound was already closing up. "You really do have some Amazonian blood in you, huh ki-" His jaw met Tommy's foot. Once on the ground, Tommy unsheathed his knife, and raised it high in the air, right above Corey's face!

"Whoa, Tommy, too far bro!" Troy shouted. Tommy didn't even hear him. He tightened his grip, and prepared to plunge the knife downward. "Tommy no! Don't do it man! There are ninety two people with guns out there who are going to be really pissed off if you do that!" Troy pleaded. Without another moment of hesitation, Tommy flailed the knife downward. "No! No!" Troy was shrieking now, but it was too late. The knife's jet black blade soared down toward Corey's head. And then there one sickening sticking noise, and everything fell silent.

Tommy stood breathing heavily, wide eyed. He stood up, his hands shaking. And lying on the ground at his feet was a panting Corey. He was breathing so heavily that Troy thought he might actually suffocate himself. The knife had plunged directly into the floor no more than a millimeter from Corey's head, slicing his cigarette off and drawing blood from the tip of his nose. Corey stared at his reflection in the knife, and took a long, collective breathe.

"I told you not to call me a kid. And by the way, asshole, you _really _shouldn't say that kind of thing about Allie. Next time, I'll cut a whole lot more than just your nose." Tommy growled. Then he plucked the knife out of the floor, slid into the holder, and walked toward the door. "Come on Troy. Let's get out of here." Tommy shot Corey one last gaze. "We've wasted enough time on him."

Troy released Chris from the headlock, and tapped him on the cheek. "Get back to factory work, Tin Man." He then followed his brother out the door. Once they were out of earshot from Corey, Troy whispered, "Dude, that was absolutely badass."

"We should never have even come here. That paranoid idiot is about as much help as a match underwater." Tommy grumbled while he searched the room for Jesse. He eventually spotted the speedster chatting it up with some soldiers in the corner, holding a hot dog in each hand, and wearing a beer helmet. "Jesse, we're leaving." Tommy shouted.

"Already?" Jesse groaned, and zoomed over to them. "I just got the feeling in my legs back!"

"Good, we've got a long walk through the sewer again."

"So… Corey isn't going to help us?"

"No."

"Tommy almost killed him." Troy added.

"Oh good then, it isn't just me." Jesse rolled his eyes. "So where are we going to go now?"

"Anywhere but here. If these morons want to get themselves killed on day one, that's up to them."

Just as the trio reached the elevator, there was a thundering blast, and the entire room shook. Then the ceiling began to crumble. Everyone looked up in confusion, and the roar of engines could be heard.

"Oh no." Tommy groaned.

There was another crash, and this time a large section of the ceiling exploded into a hail of shrapnel, causing a massive panic. A large ship began to descend, and a small army of drones and Parademons started to spill from it! Soldiers scrambled to grab their weapons, and some even got a few shots in, before a looming figure descended from the ship, hovering with menace. He outstretched his hand a wave of pure force erupted out, blowing most of the soldiers off their feet. He gave his army a signal to cease fire. His gaze floated to Troy, Tommy and Jesse, and he smiled maliciously.

"Grayven." Troy grumbled.

"Who?" Jesse asked swiftly.

"Darkseid's son. Bad news."

Suddenly, Grayven erupted in laughter. "How perfect! Not only did I find the remaining three fugitives I was assigned to, but I stumbled across the infamous Corey Jones, and his island of misfit toys! Father will reward me greatly for crushing this little uprising!"

"Shit! How did they find us?" Tommy whispered hoarsely.

"I don't know, but it must have been _us_." Troy stated, a guilty look on his face. "Tommy, _we _led them here! We put all these people in danger!"

"They put themselves in danger by being here in the first place." Tommy argued.

"Tommy… we did this."

"I know."

"And now, the piece de' résistance!" Grayven waved, and three floating chambers levitated down from the ship, all carrying a different prisoner, bound and chained in energy handcuffs and other restraints. Tommy's eyes widened when he saw the prisoners. Alex, Flo, and Ethan!

"They got them too?" Jesse gasped. A new figure floated down behind Grayven, this one a deathly pale and thin main, wearing all green, with his brain protruding visibly from his head, protected by a glass dome.

"That's Psimon!" Troy gasped. "That must be how they found us… he's one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth."

"And I'm guessing he's not a good guy?" Jesse groaned.

"Not a chance."

Out the corner of his eye, Tommy caught a bright flash on the corner of the gaping hole in the ceiling. He looked closer toward the flash to see Quinton, holding a chunk of broken glass to reflect sunlight and signal Tommy. With him was a dark hair girl who Tommy had never seen before, but regardless, they both looked like they could easily get the drop on Grayven. Thinking quickly, Tommy examined the odds. _His army has us beat in both numbers and firepower, but we've got the element of surprise with Q and that girl… Corey should take on Psimon, since they both have psychic powers. Chris and Connor will probably both be useful in a fight, too. We distract Grayven while Corey's guys hold back the army for a bit, and Quinton and that girl can sneak in and free Alex, Flo and Ethan. Once we're all together, we just might stand a fair chance!_

Tommy looked to Corey, who nodded to signify that he had read his mind and understood the plan. Grayven was obviously about to make his move. It was time for Tommy to make his.

"What do we do?" Troy whispered.

"Simple." Tommy replied with powerful confidence. "We gamble."


	11. Gamble

**Told you I'd update faster this time around. I feel like the elevator scene in this chapter might be one of the best parts of this story so far, hope you enjoy! **

Chapter Eleven: A Dangerous Gamble

Time slowed to a crawl, and yet everything happened so fast. In a flash, Grayven gave the signal for his army to open fire, and blasts erupted through the air. Corey gave a signal as well, and all ninety-two of his men knocked steel tables over on their side, and used them for cover. Now and then they would try to get shots in before ducking down again, and sometimes they would even hit a parademon and take it out. The drones continued to advance though, bullets bouncing off of them like confetti. Tommy observed all this in one quick sweep, and tried to run toward Alex, Flo and Ethan, still imprisoned, but felt a powerful presence push into his mind, and heard a voice. "Psimon says stay!" And Tommy's body locked up, I couldn't move. Psimon had taken control over his motor functions. "Good job. Now… Psimon says walk backwards!" The voice uttered, and he started moving back toward the firing zone. He was about to be standing right between the soldier's bullets and the drones lasers! He panicked and tried desperately to take back control of his body, but couldn't even begin to win.

He looked to Troy for help, but realized he was under control too, standing at attention and waiting for his turn to walk into his death. Suddenly a bright reddish blur plucked Tommy out the line of fire. He was whipped back faster than his mind could process, and slammed into the wall. Jesse vibrated into visibility right in front of him. "Sorry bro, but I had to get you out of there."

"Why aren't you under control?" Tommy muttered through his ringing headache.

"My brain works about a hundred times faster than normal people's, so my thoughts move a frequencies that Psimon can barely process. He _could _control me, but it'd take all of his power to keep up with my mind, and right now he's also got you and Troy." Jesse rambled off at a speed that was barely conceivable.

Then that voice came in Tommy's head again. "Psimon says attack!" And without control, Tommy grabbed his knife and plunged it toward Jesse. The speedster leapt out of the way, wide eyed, but quickly met a roundhouse kick from Tommy. Tommy then delivered a punch to Jesse's jaw, putting him against a wall.

"Sorry Jesse." Tommy shouted. _Kind of. _The knife then sailed at Jesse's chest, but at the last moment Tommy felt control return to his muscles, and he threw himself to the floor just so that he could miss. Tommy looked up to Psimon, who looked like he was suddenly fighting with a migraine. Tommy looked at Corey, who looked about the same way, and realized they were in a psychic battle of some kind. Tommy then looked at Grayven, and saw the look of complete complacency on his face. He really didn't care what happened, he had enough pride and arrogance within him that he never once considered he might lose the battle. In truth, Tommy suspected he was probably right.

And finally, Tommy saw Quinton and the girl who he didn't know, climbing down on a solid-water rope from Quinton's gauntlet, and descending quietly onto the floating chambers that held Alex, Flo and Ethan. They landed atop Alex's chamber first, and Quinton went to work deactivating the locking mechanisms. _Good, _Tommy thought, _Alex can take out the drones in no time, and Ethan should be able to do some damage to anything left. Then we've got oceans surrounding this whole place, that'll give Flo and edge._

Tommy began whipping out torrents of baterangs at an oncoming line of enemies, destroying whatever came his way. Quinton and the girl had nearly freed all three of their teammates by now, but quickly noticed something was off.

"Wh- what?" Alex groaned as he sat forward.

"Where am I?" Flo asked.

"You were captured by Grayven. I'm breaking you out." Quinton whispered.

"Who is Grayven?" Flo groaned, then she looked to Quinton. "Who are _you_?"

"Better talk, or I'll break you apart." Alex threatened. Then a hyena-like laugh erupted from Psimon.

"What did you do?" Quinton shouted.

"I erased their memories of the past two months." Psimon grinned. "They don't even know who you are."

That was when all hell broke loose. Ethan erupted from his chamber in a blue flash, and began destroying soldiers on both sides with waves of electricity, attacking everything in his path!

"What the hell is he doing?" Troy shouted, dodging a blast of energy.

"He thinks he's still in the battery core on Themyscira! He probably thinks he's just now breaking out!" Tommy shouted.

"Die assholes!" Ethan screamed, unleashing as much power as he could into the crowds below him, charring anyone in his wake. Tommy, Troy and Jesse took cover behind an iron table that had been flipped onto its side.

"We need to get him under control or he's going to kill everybody." Troy stated.

"I know, but if we get close to him we're going to die in no time." Tommy reasoned.

"Good thing I don't need to get close." Red Hood chimed in, having joined the group only moments ago. He pulled out his red compound bow, and aimed a hunting arrow directly at Ethan's chest.

"No! You aren't killing him!" Tommy barked.

"But-"

"Think about it a minute! If we can reason with him, he can keep doing that to the enemy side, and that makes things a hell of a lot easier for us!"

"Alright then Gandhi, how do you propose we reason with him?" Hood asked.

"I'll think of something."

Suddenly, Ethan let out another battle cry and there was a bright inward flash. Tommy glanced up to see that Chris had transformed into a living facsimile of platinum, and the electricity was just traveling through his body like a conductor, and moving into the ground, leaving Chris untouched. He had struck Ethan with his hand, which he had morphed into a mace, and Ethan had dropped to the ground. Chris morphed his other arm into a blade, and prepared to impale Ethan!

"Damn it!" Tommy barked, and sprinted into the field of lightning, shouting for Chris to stop. There was a bright flash, and suddenly the dark haired girl who had come with Quinton was right next to him. She uttered some inconceivable nonsense, and suddenly Tommy's body was encased in a golden glow. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked her in the eyes. "What did you just do to me?"

"That's a personal force field that will protect you from Ethan's field of electricity. You're welcome." She said, and her ruby lips parted in a grin.

"Who are you?"

"An admirer. A friend." She shrugged. Then she was gone. Tommy continued on, and tackled Chris to the ground just moments before he would have killed Ethan.

"What are you doing?" Chris snapped.

"You aren't killing him. Got it?" Tommy drilled. Suddenly Ethan got to his feet and fired a powerful blast directly into Tommy's back. If it weren't for the force field the girl had put up, it would have split Tommy right in half! He flew into the wall, driving a hole about two feet deep into it.

"Good call, genius! I almost had him!" Chris shouted. Then Ethan saw Grayven's ship, and grinned. He held his hands out toward the ship, and began siphoning electricity off from it, powering him up. For the first time since the battle had begun, Grayven seemed bothered.

"Forget the soldiers for now! Kill him!" Grayven roared, pointing towards Ethan, whose muscles were already bulking up from the energy his body was drawing. The parademons and drones redirected their fire toward him, as did many of the soldiers, but the field of raw energy around him was destroying everything that came near it. It simply absorbed the drone's lasers and converted them into more energy for the field. Tommy and Chris, both protected from the field, grabbed Ethan and tried to restrain him. But his strength on a full charge was colossal, and he threw them aside with ease.

"Ethan! Do you even know where you are?" Tommy shouted. "I'm your friend! I helped break you out of the power core! Psimon just made you forget!"

"Don't lie to me!" Ethan shrieked, and put another bolt in Tommy's chest, damaging the force field further. Tommy got up, literally smoldering. _He needs to see that he isn't in the core anymore. _Tommy thought. _I need to get him outside. _

"Jesse! Piss him off!" He yelled across the room.

"Why me?" Jesse yelled back.

"Because you're so good at it!"

"Well, I can't argue with that." Jesse shrugged, and zoomed as near he could to Ethan without being fried. "Hey Duracell Lad, I need some juice for my flashlight if you don't mind!"

"You making fun of me?" Ethan growled, his eyes surging. He unleashed a torrent of energy onto Jesse, who broke off running as fast as he possibly could, barely managing to stay ahead of the lightning.

"Man, they should really switch back to their old mascot." Jesse grinned. "I liked the Energizer Bunny way better than you."

"Shut up!"

"Ooh, brilliant come back. You know for somebody with so much power to spare, you'd think you could turn on the light bulb in your head now and then!" Jesse shouted as he dodged more waves of energy.

_That's good Jesse. Just a little more. _Tommy thought.

Ethan's blasts began to get wilder and wilder as his temper rose, and pretty soon his aim was so off kilter that Jesse didn't even have to dodge. "Whoa, dude, you running out of juice? I could borrow some batteries from the remote if you'd like."

"You're dead." Ethan's lower body suddenly erupted into a wave of pure energy, and he took off near the speed of light toward Jesse!

"Whoa-damn!" Jesse gasped as he sprinted away, Ethan flying just inches behind him.

Tommy ran over to the elevator. "Jesse! Lead him over here!"

"I'll get back to you on that!" Jesse screamed as he ran up a wall to avoid Ethan's grab.

**(Chris's Workshop)**

Quinton pulled Alex and Flo into the room where Chris worked on his projects, and tried to explain the situation to them.

"Wait a minute, I know this place!" Alex chided. "This is Corey's hideout. What am I doing here? Last time I saw Corey he tried to kill me!"

"Look, you two are both with me. We're on a team fighting against Apokolips. We've already taken out the Power Core on Themyscira, taken down Deathstroke, and destroyed Warworld. Alex, you saved Tommy, Jesse, Allie and I from a pack of Hellhounds when we first met, and you've kind of led us around since then. Flo, you let us use your submarine to get to Themyscira, and wound up getting captured with us, and you've been with us since. We came to Corey because we need to break into The Hole and rescue Allie Queen, and possibly a Kryptonian, if Ethan is to be believed. However I don't think that he is. You were captured by Grayven, son of Darkseid, and a telepath named Psimon erased your memories. That's how we wound up here and now we really need your help." Quinton rambled.

"Uh-huh?" Flo raised an eyebrow. "Dude, whatever your on, I suggest you take a break."

"I'm not 'on' anything!"

"Oh… so your just insane then?"

"Wh- Alex, do you believe me?"

"How do you know my real name?" Alex demanded.

"Because you told it me!"

"I would never do that."

"Yes you did, because we all agreed the lack of trust among the group was going to get us killed."

"Nice try, but I would never tell anyone that Ricochet and Alex Luthor are one in the same." Alex narrowed his eyes. "Now I suggest you tell me the truth, or I will kill you here and now!"

"No you never told me you're- wait… you're last name is Luthor?" Quinton's eyes widened at the sudden realization.

"Ah crap, you didn't know?" Alex inquired.

"Not until now."

"Well, now I really have to kill you." Alex sighed, and pulled a chunk of sharp metal from a table, preparing to stab Quinton with it. In a blur, Quinton created a hard-water shield form his gauntlet and blocked the attack.

"Whoa! That's Atlantean! Where did you get that?" Flo questioned.

"You gave it to me!" Quinton screamed, becoming more and more frustrated. _Alex Luthor? Could it be that…_

Suddenly a stray blast of lightning sailed into to the room and hit the ground with the explosive force of a grenade! Q, Alex and Flo were all blown to opposite corners. Alex hit his head on the corner of a bench and passed out. Quinton was mostly unharmed, other than some soot left on his clothing, and ran over to Flo. He recoiled at what he saw. Flo lay on the floor, her clothes drenched in blood. She had received the worst of the blast, some shrapnel had tore a wide gash in her midriff. The cut spanned from her mid-stomach to her lower chest, and she was barely conscious.

"Oh no!" Quinton gasped. _Water. She needs water. Water can heal her. There's water outside. I need to get her outside. _Quinton knelt down, and quickly tore off her shirt to look more closely at the wound, and see just how severe it was. He took a moment to examine Flo's bra as well, but that was for more personal reasons. He was thankful to see that the wound wasn't fatally deep, but there was still a good chance that she could bleed out. He released all of the water contained inside his gauntlet, allowing it to drip onto the gash. It began to heal slightly, but she needed much more. Quinton carefully picked her up in his arms, and took off out the door. He spied the elevator, and saw Tommy standing near it. He also caught a glimpse of Ethan and Jesse battling, or rather, Jesse running away from Ethan in terror. Tommy was screaming to lead him to the elevator.

But Quinton ignored all that. He had to save Flo. He took off faster than he had ever run before, and cleared the room in minutes. He reached the elevator and showed Tommy the wound. "I need to get her to the ocean."

"You're right." Tommy agreed, "Move fast. I'm going to need the elevator in a minute.'

"I'll be going as fast as I can." Quinton assured him and burst into the elevator. But then Jesse came in running, with Ethan hot on his tail.

"Jesse no! Not yet!" Tommy screamed, but it was too late. Jesse ducked to the ground, and Ethan sailed right above him. He hit just above the elevator doors, and demolished the wall. And the elevator cable. No sooner than the doors had closed, the elevator broke off and began to plummet downward through the shaft.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Quinton cried, and did everything he could to shield Flo from the coming impact. And then it came, with a painfully jolting force. Everything shook, the light shattered, and Quinton fell limp.

Outside, Tommy stared into the hollow elevator shaft in horror. Quinton and Flo were probably dead. _My fault again! My stupid plan backfired! It's my fault! _Tommy punched a the wall until his knuckles bled. "I'm going to finish it… first I'm going to stop Ethan, then I'm going to kill Grayven, and nobody else I going to die. Nobody."

Without another thought, Tommy leapt into the elevator shaft and grabbed onto the cable that had once held the elevator in place. He swung on the cable and kicked the disoriented Ethan right in the head. "Come on!" He shouted, swinging higher onto the cable.

"Fine then! I'll kill you too!" Ethan roared, firing a shot up at Tommy. Tommy swung on the cable and dodged it, and in the same motion flung a baterang down into his shoulder. In a bout of rage, Ethan took off into flight again, soaring up at Tommy. Tommy swiftly hurled his knife downward. The blade plunged into Ethan's arm and blood sprayed. Ethan lost control of his flight and spiraled directly into Tommy's foot! Tommy jumped down from the cable and ripped the knife out of Ethan's arm, and jammed it into the side of the elevator shaft. He watched Ethan fall several feet before collecting himself again, and flying back up. Tommy jumped backward and latched onto the opposite wall at just the right moment, causing Ethan to crash into the wall. His nose burst into a fountain of blood upon impact.

Tommy waited for him to go in for his next attack, and then jumped onto the elevator cable, forcing the attacker into another miss. Tommy swung in on almost a ninety degree angle on the cable, kicked off of Ethan's shoulders, and flew straight up for several feet. Once his rise began to end, he kicked off of the shaft wall, grabbed onto the cable again, and swung back upwards. He continued this pattern for several minutes, all the while swinging out of the way of Ethan's strikes.

After several minutes, Tommy reached the top of the elevator shaft. He reached into a compartment on his utility belt, pulled out a C4 explosive, stuck it to locked doors, and then swung back as he detonated it. The doors were blown out into the top floor of the tower, and Tommy swung out into the main room. Ethan landed directly in front of him, electricity surging in his eyes.

Before Tommy could get a word in edgewise, Ethan opened fire, siphoning energy off of the lights and the TV. Tommy ducked behind a couch for cover, which quickly burst into flames. Tommy rolled backward and smashed through the window. Ethan ran over to see what had become of his opponent, and powered down momentarily when he saw nothing. That was when Tommy swiftly crawled up from the ledge and grabbed Ethan by the ankle, yanking him outside. The two began to plummet out of the tower, but Tommy activated the miniature parachute in the back of his utility belt, which slowed his fall enough that he was able to hit the beach relatively safely.

Ethan wasn't so lucky, and crashed down onto the shore in a bright flash, like lightning crashing violently down onto the Earth. The smoke cleared, and Ethan wobbled to his feet. Before he could even see straight again, Tommy hit Ethan with an uppercut that sent him tumbling into the water. The moment he touched the ocean, Ethan's body flared and he began to scream in pain, his electrically charged body not interact well with the liquid. Tommy let Ethan surge in agony for a few seconds before he finally powered down, and fell to his hands and knees, wobbling on the shore.

"Are we done here?" Tommy demanded, offering his hand to help Ethan up. He slapped it away and got up himself.

"You win." He admitted grudgingly.

"Does this look like Themyscira to you, Ethan?"

"Couldn't tell you. Never seen the outside before."

"Yes you have. With me. I helped you escape… you just don't remember."

"You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"You're not attacking me anymore, are you?"

Ethan turned and looked out the window, staring onto the ocean. "You kicked my ass in that elevator."

"Yeah."

"You could have killed me."

"True. But I didn't."

"I know." Ethan turned and faced Tommy. "You're definitely not Secret Police. So what are you?"

"I'm like you. A League Kid… just trying to break free."

"Doesn't look like it's working, since every human I saw down there was getting killed."

"I know. Darkseid's son caught us by surprise." Tommy looked up to Grayven's ship, floating above the gaping hole in the ground where Grayven's forces had entered. "We could use your help."

"How? I used up all the energy I had stored fighting you."

"Don't worry about that. I have a plan."

**(Elevator – Same Time)**

The elevator had crashed. Plain and simple. And now Quinton was trapped, with Flo wounded, and no way out. "Great, I'm going to die in a dark box buried under a pile of rubble. Not exactly a heroic death. Then again, I guess I'm not much of a hero." Quinton stammered.

A reserve light began to flicker on in the top of the elevator, protected by a cage. It was a dim light, but at least Quinton could see now. In a way, that was even worse. His claustrophobia began to set in, and looking at Flo's wounded body, he was thankful that he wasn't afraid of blood too. Otherwise he would have died of fright right there. The walls were already beginning to close in, and it was all Quinton could do to keep himself distracted, keep himself from hyperventilating.

He threw his dark sunglasses onto the floor and hit his head against a wall. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Suddenly he heard Flo moan, and looked to see her eyes coming open slowly. A look of pain washed over her face, and she saw the wound on her torso. She looked as if she were going to puke, but managed to hold it in.

"Are you in pain?" Quinton asked, shaky-voiced.

"No shit I'm in pain!" She groaned, and tried to pull herself up.

"Hey, you shouldn't be moving right now. You've lost a lot of blood." Quinton did his best to keep calm, and helped prop her up against the elevator wall.

"Where are we?"

"I tried getting you to the ocean, but the elevator crashed. We're trapped."

"Well that sucks."

"Yup."

"Where'd my shirt go?"

"I needed to inspect the wound."

"Uh-huh." She managed a light but pained grin, and pulled her hand up from her stomach. It was coated in red.

"We really need to stop the bleeding." Quinton stammered, doing everything he could to ignore the walls and take care of Flo. He pulled off his jacket and ripped off large pieces of fabric from it. He went to work making a makeshift bandage, and wrapped up the gash. "That might do some good." He leaned back in nothing but his tight black t-shirt. He rarely went without his beloved jacket.

"You have pretty eyes." She said, looking into the shimmering purple seas that he normally concealed with his sunglasses.

"Thanks."

"Why do you keep them covered up all the time?"

"Because I don't like being referred to as 'pretty' in any way."

"Oh." She laughed weakly, but she was sickly pale. She was covered in sweat and trembling. Quinton knew she was in much more pain than she was letting on. Blood was already soaking through his jacket-bandages. If she didn't get help soon, she would die. They both would. Quinton guessed he would die of suffocation. If push came to shove he could probably eat his own arm off or something, so it wouldn't be starvation. But they had a limited amount of oxygen going for them, and he could already feel the air getting thin. It really wouldn't help once he started hyperventilating, something he was fighting off with all his will.

"So Mr. Crazy… you say we know each other?" She asked sheepishly.

"Yeah. Not all that well or anything, I'm pretty sure you talked to me like, once."

"Huh, I wonder why. You seem nice."

"Uh huh." Quinton edged away from her, as he was now almost certain that he had peed his pants when the elevator crashed. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to do it in piss-soaked awkwardness. "It's not just you. Most people ignore me."

"Well if we get out of here, we should hang out." She managed a smile. "We'd definitely have a story to tell."

"Yeah."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"I'm not very good with people."

"Well you're doing fine right now. I promise." She laughed a little, and kept looking into his eyes. He didn't mind, other than that she could tell where he was looking now. And… he was still very interested in her bra. The situation began to really dawn on him at that moment. He was trapped in an elevator with Flo. There was a good chance they were going to die. The least he could do was have a damn conversation.

"You're eyes are nice too."

"Thank you. Although… I haven't noticed you paying much attention to my eyes." She smiled. The blood was soaking through the blue fabric that had been Quinton's jacket now. He really didn't want to die in a puddle of blood. He took the last remaining piece of his jacket and moved over to wrap it around her. As he did so, his black notebook fell out of one of the larger inside pockets. It fell open to the picture he had drawn of her inside a large, three dimensional heart. "Um… I'll get that-" Quinton reached for it, but she grabbed it quicker than he had expected and studied the picture. Q could already feel his face turning red.

"Wow, you're a pretty good artist." She smiled through her pain. "And you picked a pretty hot muse, too."

_Incredible… we're trapped in a metal death box with a broken cable, and she might bleed to death… and she's STILL making jokes. Can anything ruin her mood? _Quinton thought as he backed away sheepishly. Flo flipped to the next page in the notebook, an extremely detailed close up of her face, penciled with professional skill. The next page was a full body drawing of her. Then one of her sitting against a tree. Then her in a lake. Then her in a field of flowers.

"Are they all me?" She asked in disbelief.

"I… I like to draw what I feel." Quinton stuttered.

"That's sweet." She turned to the next page, one of her and Q holding hands on a beach, with the sun setting behind them. Again, extremely detailed and drawn to perfection. "Quinton…" She seemed at a loss for words. Although, she also seemed as if she were having trouble speaking. Quinton knew she had lost far too much blood, she would probably lose consciousness soon.

"I have an idea…" Quinton said, and got to his feet. He ripped a blank sheet of paper out of his notebook. Then he withdrew a piece of sharp metal he had taken from Chris's workshop, to use as a weapon if they ran into trouble. He stepped over to the grate protecting the reserve light bulb, and swiftly scraped the metal shard against it until it produced sparks. He continued doing this until the sparks light the paper on fire. Then he held the paper directly under the small emergency sprinkler on the top of the elevator. It was there to put out a fire, should one somehow start inside an elevator, but it didn't produce much water, to avoid flooding. The sprinkler came to life, and started releasing cold water into the elevator.

"You're a genius." Flo stammered as she allowed the water to spray over the wound. It bonded with her Atlantean physiology and slowly began to heal her.

"I'm just resourceful." Quinton replied, and returned to sitting. The water shut off about a minute later. The wound was still definitely there. It had healed some, but not nearly enough. At least now they were able to keep the bleeding under control, for the time being anyway.

Unfortunately, the water didn't help Quinton's claustrophobia any. He felt his pulse rising, along with his panic. The walls started closing in more and more, and soon he couldn't breathe. He tried to distract himself, but soon couldn't think straight anymore. His mind became a blur of panic and desperation. He started to wheeze, gasping for more air, and the severe hyperventilation set in. He huddled in the corner in a panic. Everything was beginning to spin, and the elevator seemed smaller and smaller by the second, constricting him.

"Q? Are you alright?" Flo asked quickly, but Quinton couldn't even hear her over his own breathing and panic. She got closer. "Q, are you by any chance claustrophobic?"

"Little – bit." He gasped, eyes wide. He started to cry at the realization that he was going to die in there, trapped and freaking out like a baby in front of girl the loved. He didn't even attempt to stop the tears, and they ran fast._ Real frickin' manly, Quinton. That's how you get the girls. _He thought angrily between long bouts of terror.

"Quinton, Q… calm down, Quinton-" Flo pleaded, trying desperately to calm him down. She put her hands on his face and stared deeper into his eyes. "Listen to me. Don't focus on the walls, focus on me. Ok? Focus on me."

Quinton nodded at this and looked back into her beautiful baby blue eyes. He tried, and for a moment it worked, but only a moment.

"Focus on this…" She said softly. Then she leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was deep, and lasted for several minutes before she finally broke.

"That works," Quinton huffed. "You- you should keep doing that."

**(Back Outside – Same Time)**

Corey fell to the ground unconscious, and Psimon emerged from the psychic battle victorious. Despite efforts from Troy, Jesse, Fate, Connor and Chris, the battle seemed lost. Corey's army had been almost completely taken out. About thirty soldiers remained standing, all low on ammo. And they had barely put a dent in Grayven's army. The drones and parademons advanced menacingly.

Troy slashed another parademon's throat with a broadsword he had picked up from the armory, and watched it bleed it out on the ground. "One down… a billion more to go" Suddenly a large hand formed from the cement floor, shot upwards, and crushed a drone that had been about to kill Jesse. Once the drone had been demolished, the hand dissolved, and behind it stood Fate, twirling a crimson highlight in her hair.

"Uh… thanks." Jesse said dumbly. "Who are you again?"

"The name's Fate." She fired a golden energy bolt from her hand and killed a parademon behind Jesse, saving him again. "And you should really pay more attention."

"Sorry. It's just, having beautiful girls on the battlefield is distracting to me." Jesse grinned.

"Jess, not the time dude!" Troy shouted across the room, impaling a drone.

"Well from the looks of things there might not _be _another time!" Jesse shouted back, jumping up and striking down an attacker.

"Way to be optimistic." McKayla, the combat trainer, shouted as she put another bullet into a demon's head.

"I'm growing bored with this." Grayven scowled. "Psimon, get rid of the new girl. We don't know her abilities yet, and we can't afford to learn on the battlefield."

"Of course." Psimon crowed as he prepared to push into Fate's mind. Suddenly he was kicked in the head by Tommy, swinging in on a grapple! Psimon's brain-dome shattered and he flew into the far wall. Tommy landed on a damaged metal beam hanging down from the hole in the ceiling, so that he was level with Grayven, and looked into the villain's deep red eyes.

"You must be Thomas Grayson, the little bat-bastard I've been hearing about." Grayven taunted. "I sincerely hope you're here to surrender."

"Not even close." Tommy cracked his knuckles loudly.

"Too bad, I was going to kill you painlessly. Oh well."

"Hold up Grayven." Tommy narrowed his eyes. "I have a challenge for you."

"A challenge?"

"Yeah. I doubt someone with an ego like yours can deny a challenge. You know, unless you're afraid of losing." Tommy grinned.

"Grayven does not lose, boy." He growled. "I am the most powerful being in the universe!"

"Is that why you're still running errands for daddy?"

"Mouthy little prick. I'll take your challenge, what did you dream up?"

"A simple game of chance. I get three tries at making you bleed. Three strikes, and I'm out."

"To make me _bleed_?" Grayven laughed. "I haven't bled in over a century!"

"And I have three tries to make it happen again."

"Ok then boy, are there any rules to this game?"

"Just one. You can't do anything to dodge or block my moves." Tommy answered.

"Fine then, it won't make a bit of difference. So what are the conditions?"

"If I win, you have to restore my friend's memories. And you have to call off your army and face us on your own. Show everybody what you're really made of."

"And if you lose?"

"If I lose, we'll all turn ourselves in without a fight." Tommy said solemnly.

"What?" Jesse shouted. "Uh, Tommy, I don't know if that's such a good idea man!"

"Tommy this is a really bad plan." Troy agreed.

"You would bet their lives on a game of chance?" Grayven laughed. "How _noble_."

"So are you up for it up for what?"

"Very well, boy. Let's see you make me bleed." Grayven smiled and spread out his arms.

"Move one!" Tommy shouted, and threw out his two grenades. They struck Grayven's chest and exploded into a fiery blaze, but when the smoke cleared, Grayven was unharmed.

"Pathetic." He laughed.

"Move two!" Tommy continued, and leapt into the air.

"Oh, what are thinking now?" Grayven chuckled. Tommy landed a kick on Grayven's face, and sprung off, landing several feet away with a sprained foot. Grayven erupted in laughter. "Is that really the best you can?"

After a brief pause, Tommy looked up, a wide smile on his face. "Move three." He pointed past Grayven, and the villain looked behind him to see that Ethan had taken over his ship, and was charging the Main Cannon! The powerful focused directly on Grayven, and fired at full force. The blinding wave of energy struck the villain dead-on, and plowed him more than a mile into the ground, leaving a large smoldering hole in his place! The cannon had more than enough power to destroy entire planets, and it had just struck on being with all its energy.

And a very long pause, Grayven came crawling up out of the rubble. And there was blood running down his chest. "Guess what," Tommy yelled to him, "I win. Call off your army."

Slowly, Grayven looked up, seething with rage. A look of utter hatred burned in his eyes. He let out a ground shaking roar. "YOU WORTHLESS, IMPOTENT PIECE OF GARBAGE!" He shrieked. "YOU WANTED ME ALONE? VERY WELL, I'LL TEAR YOU APART BY MYSELF!" He looked at Psimon and growled, "Restore their damned memories."

"Yes, master Grayven." Psimon nodded sheepishly, and focused in on the minds of Ethan, Alex and Flo. "Psimon says… remember." Suddenly everything was rushing back. Ethan leapt down from the ship and looked at Tommy gratefully.

"So you were telling the truth."

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

Alex came out of Chris's workshop looking like he had just been hit over the head with a hammer. "Wow, my mind feels screwy as hell. What'd I miss?"

Grayven let out another roar, and his army returned to the ship, leaving him alone with Tommy, Alex, Jesse, Fate, Troy, Connor, Chris, Corey, and a handful of soldiers. Grayven looked to Alex grudgingly. "Look at you, fighting for the wrong side."

"What?" Jesse inquired.

"Ignore it. He's insane." Alex said quickly.

A few of the soldiers opened fire on Grayven. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of his ashy gray skin, and he moved in to attack, when Troy jumped from behind and locked his arm around his throat. Troy then kicked out the back of Grayven's knees and flipped him over onto his head, cracking the floor. Troy then leapt off and tried to fling Grayven into a wall, but the giant quickly gained the upper hand and smashed him into the concrete. A series of arrows shot by Connor sailed into Grayven's back and exploded, disorienting him enough for Troy to land a kick on his face. This knocked him back into a punch from Chris, who had morphed into the hardest metal he could think off and super-sized his fist! Grayven punched back and dented Chris's chest, leveling him to the floor. One soldier fired an RPG into Grayven's face, blinding him while Jesse zoomed in and delivered a series of powerful blows. Grayven recuperated and struck Jesse down. He moved to attack him again, when suddenly the ground beneath his feet turned to mush and he was sucked down to his knees. It then hardened again, and he was trapped. He looked to see Fate had cast a spell to cause this.

Tommy then flipped in from behind and planted two C4 on Grayven's torso, and detonated them almost immediately. Grayven was blasted into the floor, and quickly jumped up and struck at Alex, who magnetized the floor and then hurled out one his small round projectiles. It struck Grayven and imbued him with a similar charge, and the repulsion rocketed Grayven up through the ceiling! He came down and was punched in the face by a supercharged Ethan, who had absorbed most of the energy in the ship! Grayven sailed into another blow from Chris, which landed him right at Corey's feet. Corey began a mental assault, putting several illusions into Grayven's mind to throw him off. Grayven began swinging wildly at objects that weren't there, allowing the young heroes to easily strike him.

"Not so tough without an army backing you up, are you?" Troy laughed as he delivered a roundhouse kick to the villain's head.

"The thing is Grayven, you really are more powerful than anybody here. And alone, none of us would stand a chance against you." Tommy stated. "But we aren't alone."

"Not even close!" Jesse zoomed in, and used his mastery of speed to accelerate his muscle growth, and delivered a crushingly powerful blow to Grayven's jaw. Grayven recoiled and in a bout of rage, he swept his arm to the side and struck Jesse. Jesse sailed into Corey, and the blow caused the illusions to cease. Grayven, realizing he might not be able to defeat them all together, grabbed the nearest person to him… McKayla Saunders. He pulled the combat trainer against his chest with the threat of crushing her throat.

"Let me go!" She screamed.

"I'll kill her! Right now, I'll kill her!" Grayven shrieked violently. "I'm going to leave, and if any of you try to stop me, the girl dies!"

"Jesse… we might need some speed work here." Tommy muttered, but suddenly Grayven bellowed a loud no.

"You, speedster, get on the ground! No tricks!"

Jesse was forced to comply, and laid down before Grayven. Grayven began to head toward his ship, keeping a close eye on everyone and maintaining a sadistic and triumphant grin.

"You know he's going to fire that cannon at us as soon as he's in the ship." Ethan whispered.

"Yeah, I know. But we can't just let her die." Tommy stated.

"Tommy, it's just one life verses the lives of everyone here." Corey began. "I think we should just-"

"No. No one else is dying because of my decisions." Tommy snapped.

"Well then you won't make the decision. I will."

"Corey if you make a move, I swear to God I will cut your damn head off."

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I'll think of something! Give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute!"

"I'm thinking!" Tommy barked, and closed his eyes. _Damn it. No way out of this one._

**(Elevator – Same Time)**

"Thank you…" Quinton gasped as Flo pulled away from the kiss.

"Just don't think about the walls, ok?"

"I know."

"You're a good kisser by the way." She smiled.

"You really mean that?"

"No, not really. It was still nice though."

She sat down and noticed the thin air. "I think we're running out of oxygen in here."

"I know that too." Quinton groaned.

"Well you've survived that kind of thing before! Remember when your helmet broke in the water around Themyscira and-"

"Wait, you remember that?" Quinton asked wide eyed.

"Whoa… I guess I do." She laughed. "I remember everything again all the sudden."

"They must have taken down Psimon up above."

"Good, at least they're making progress." She huffed. The air was getting thinner and thinner by the minute. "Hey Q…"

"What?"

"If we're going to die, I'm glad it was like this." She said, sliding her hand into his.

"Seriously?"

"Well, I mean that we're together. Everything else about this blows."

"Blows…"

"Um, yes?"

"Blows! It blows, that's the answer!" Quinton shouted, jumping up onto his feet.

"What? Q, are you feeling ok?"

"Yes! You're a genius, thank you!" He shouted.

"Um, ok. You're welcome. Now how am I a genius?"

"These elevators are built with large compression tanks underneath, to use pressurized air as a backup to push the elevator if the power goes out."

"That's great Q, except the cable is broken and it won't be enough to launch the elevator like a freakin' rocket."

"No, of course not. But there are certain other gasses mixed in with these tanks. I won't get into the chemistry of it all, but with a static charge and enough heat, the resulting force should be enough to catapult us upward to where we can climb out of the emergency exit, grab onto the cable, and climb up!"

"Q, that is insane."

"Yes, yes it is. But isn't it worth a shot?"

"Oh hell yes."

Quinton got down on his hands and knees with the shard of metal, and began working to rip out the screws in the floor. Soon he was able to pull up a piece of the flooring, uncovering the air tank. "Let me see your weapons."

"Alright." She handed him the small Atlantean cylinders that generated her electrified liquid weapons. Quinton activated the bioelectricity generators and places the cylinders opposite each other. Then he jammed the metal shard between them, and after some work, managed to puncture the tank. Then, without removing the shard from the hole, he picked up his entire notebook. "I'll need a lot of heat…"

"I'll get you a new notebook, Q."

"Thank you." Quinton then ripped off the grate protecting the light bulb, crashed it against the shard of metal sticking up from the air tank until the notebook was on fire, and then carefully nudged it to where most of the heat would be centered on the expelled air. Now, the hot gas will interact with the static from the cylinders and-"

"I don't care. Just do it."

"Ok. This'll happen fast. Push open that emergency exit and then press yourself against the wall." He instructed. Flo did as she was told, and Quinton yanked the shard out of the puncture in the tank. Suddenly, the gas erupted with a wave of heat and explosive force, blasting the entire tank out from the back and rocketing the elevator upwards through the shaft at incredible speed. The g-force pinned Q and Flo to the walls, and after watching all of the floors zoom past, they were still soaring.

"Q! The elevator isn't slowing down yet!" Flo screamed.

"I may have miscalculated the force of the blast!" Quinton screamed back. He managed to glimpse up, and saw that the ceiling at the top of the shaft was already cracked up and weakened from Tommy's C4. "Oh damn…"

The elevator went crashing straight through the ceiling, and daylight poured in through the emergency exit. Then everything slowed to a crawl, and for a moment they seemed to just hang in the air. Then the elevator started to plummet. Quinton and Flo were both slammed against the floor, and they rocketed toward the ground at a terrifying speed.

"Flo I apologize for killing us!" Quinton shouted.

"It's ok, it wasn't your fault!"

**(Back on the Ground – Same Time)**

Grayven had backed his way onto the shore now, still holding onto his hostage, and grinned. As soon as he was back in his ship, he'd fire the cannon and kill every single one of the brats. Then a large shadow passed over, and Grayven looked up to see a giant metal box falling out of the sky!

"What the hell?" He barked, and his moment of confusion was enough for his hostage, McKayla, to hit him in the ribs with her sidearm, making him lose his grip. McKayla jumped forward, and the falling iron box crashed down onto Grayven, flattening him into the dirt!

"No way… is than elevator?" Troy gasped. They all began running toward the scene. "Guys! I think that's a frickin elevator!"

The elevator doors began to slide open, and Quinton and Flo stumbled out of it.

"Ding." Jesse chimed, and several of the soldiers burst out laughing.

"What in the world did we land on?" Quinton muttered.

"Grayven." Tommy couldn't help but smile.

"Well that is just awesome."

The elevator began to overturn, and Grayven stood up slowly, wobbling on his feet. His arm looked broken, and rage burned on his face. He looked up toward his ship and screamed, "FIRE THE CANNON!"

"But sir-" Psimon said over an intercom.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE! I JUST WANT THEM DEAD!"

The cannon began to charge up, but suddenly it burst into flames! The explosion engulfed the cannon and destroyed the front-lower half of the ship!

"What?"

"I messed with the mechanics a bit before I left." Ethan stated. "I figured you'd try something with it."

"Stupid rat!" Grayven seethed. He looked for a moment as if he were going to fight, but looked at the group before him. Tommy's hand was on his utility belt, Troy had his sword ready, Connor had already loaded an arrow, and countless guns were trained on him.

"You lose." Tommy stated. "Go back to Apokolips. Tell Darkseid exactly what happens here. And if you're still alive after you give him that news… tell him this. We – don't – lose."

"This is only the beginning." Grayven growled. "You played a wildcard this time. I wasn't expected Corey and his army to be here. But next time, you won't be so lucky. I'll have it all planned out." Grayven turned toward his ship, but looked back momentarily. "After all, I _do _have my informant among this little group of yours." Then he waved his hand, and was beamed back up into his ship. It then opened a large Boom Tube, and warped back to Apokolips.

Most of the group then fell to the ground, both exhausted and relieved. "We won that round." Jesse smiled.

"But barely. We had to pull some serious miracles to make that happen, and still there were plenty of casualties."

"Yet they were all my casualties." Corey groaned. "I lost at least twenty soldiers today!"

"You would have lost them all if it wasn't for us." Tommy said coolly. "Maybe you should consider what I said earlier. Your army has no chance."

"Oh, like your little team does?" Corey snapped.

"No, we don't either." Tommy agreed, staying calm. "I think we can both agree that if either of our teams weren't here today, that fight would have been lost. So maybe we should stop trying to rely on ourselves."

"What are you getting at?" Corey demanded.

"We should work together."

"What?"

"Yes. My team, your army, together. We have a much better chance of winning this war if we actually have the ability to fight it."

"So who takes lead?" Corey growled.

"Tell you what, Corey. You lead your guys, and I'll lead mine. And you and I can plan together."

"Right. You're team does all the covert work, and I operate the strike team, the front line of defense."

"That works just fine. And if at any point we need to collaborate together, we will."

"Agreed."

Tommy and Corey shook hands. "So now that we have that established, I think I know a good place to start." Corey grinned.

"What do you mean by that?"

"We make a battle plan together, I tell you what you need to do, then your covert team gets into The Hole. Get your friend out of there, and anybody else who can help."

"Are you saying you'll help me get into The Hole?" Tommy was enthused.

"I'm saying I'll tell you how. I'm not going anywhere near that place."

"Deal."

"Hold up, are we really doing an alliance?" Connor interrupted.

"Right now, it definitely seems like the best course of action." Corey nodded. "Like Tommy said, divided we don't stand any chance at all. But united, we just might."

Jesse zoomed over to McKayla, and put his arm around her. "Looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together, sweetheart."

"Get your arm off me before I break it." She threatened. He complied immediately.

"We can't stay here now, that's for certain. We'll go our separate ways for now." Corey handed Tommy a communicator. "Contact me when you're ready to make a plan."

"Sounds good."

"Oh, and… I do have one more stipulation." Corey's tone suddenly had an edge. "Check out your teammates a little bit better. Grayven said he had an informant."

"Wait, there's a traitor?" Jesse asked. "Damn it, now everybody's going to assume it was me!"

"Nobody thinks it's you Jesse." Troy said.

"Why not?"

"You're too dumb to pull it off." Flo said bluntly.

"What? I could be a spy if I wanted to!" Jesse objected.

"You'd blow your cover in twenty minutes, West." Alex stated.

"No I would – yeah, yeah you're probably right." Jesse sighed in defeat.

"How do we know the spy isn't in your army?" Troy asked, looking at Corey. "Grayven didn't say who's team the spy was in."

"I'll search my team. And I suggest you do the same." Corey nodded. Then he and his squadron began to pack up all the ammo they could, prepared to leave and find a new hideout.

"We should get out of here too." Troy said.

"I know." Tommy looked at Fate. "She isn't coming."

"What? Why not?" Fate demanded.

"Because no one even knows who you are."

"But you know I'm useful in a fight. You saw me back there."

"Tommy, I think we should keep her around for now." Quinton whispered. "She has some information you might want to hear."

"Alright, fine. She's in." Tommy sighed. "Flo, call the Aquaship."

"Got it." Flo said from the water where she was healing. She telepathically called out to the submarine, and it soon floated up to the surface. Everyone entered. Alex and Quinton were the last to head into the hatch.

As Alex began to climb into the sub, Quinton grabbed him by the shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "What?" Alex demanded.

"I know who you are." Quinton said grimly. "Alex Luthor."

After a long pause, Alex sighed. "Don't tell anyone. Please."

"I'm going to tell. You're father was Lex Luthor! That lands you as number one suspect for this traitor thing."

"Look, the only memory I have of my father, is of him beating my mother to death and making me watch!" Alex snapped. "I hate that man with every fiber of my being. I am nothing like him, alright? It's my life's goal to be the opposite of my father!"

"I'm going to look into this more."

"Fine. Just please, don't tell anyone. Especially Tommy, he'd never trust me again."

"Ok. I won't tell. For now."

"Thank you."

Soon they were in the ship, and the hatch closed. By this time tomorrow, they would deep in The Hole.


	12. Downtime

**I wanted to do another calm chapter after all of the new developments recently. With the friendships among the group getting stronger, Flo and Quinton getting together, and the whole traitor-in-the-group issue, I thought I would be good to do another chapter devoted to character development, without all the action. We'll finally get to saving Allie in the next chapter, I promise!**

Chapter Twelve: Downtime

"She kissed you?" Jesse asked enthusiastically.

"Yes." Quinton grinned with pride and leaned against the wall of the pantry, where he and Jesse normally hung out while on the submarine.

"How long was it?"

"Which time?"

"It happened more than once!" Jesse gaped.

"I don't know if it meant anything though. She was just trying to distract me from my claustrophobia."

"Quinton, if all she wanted to do was distract you, she would've just started slapping you or something. There's another reason she kissed you dude."

"I suppose you're probably right about that."

"So now my only question is, why the hell are you sitting here with me? Go talk to her!"

"Do you really think I have a shot?"

"Have a shot- Quinton, you already made out with her dumbass!"

"True, but that was when her memory had been erased. She didn't remember me… she couldn't remember how much of a loser I am."

"Q, you pissed your pants and cried in front of her. I think you got passed the loser part a while ago."

"And that raises another question. Why on Earth would she be attracted to _me_?"

"I don't know, maybe she's stupid." Jesse shrugged and ripped into a stale bag of potato chips he had found.

"I'm about a year older than she is, maybe she's attracted to older guys. But if that's how it is then I almost feel like I'm taking advantage of her."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Jesse said through a full mouth. "If a girl is willing to let herself be taken advantage of, why deny her that?"

"Hold on… weren't you telling me to avoid Flo because she was messing with my head, like, two days ago?"

"Well that was before you had her tongue in your mouth. Speaking of which… I have one question that I really need to ask."

"What is it?"

"When she kissed you… did it taste like sea food?"

"Shut up Jesse."

"Sorry. Seriously though, Q, if you don't take this opportunity now, and go hang out with her or something, I will see to it that you get de-balled."

"You're right."

"I know."

Suddenly the door swung open, and Fate strolled in. She tossed an empty Twinkie wrapper into Jesse's hood, and pulled the bag of potato chips out of his hand.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Jesse snapped.

"I'm hungry." She said while she inhaled the bag, and then grabbed for a box of fruit snacks.

"So you think find it acceptable to just stroll in and steal my food?"

"Yes."

"Quinton, where did you find this chick?" Jesse shouted, but looked to see that his friend was already gone. He couldn't help but notice that Fate seemed to be eating even faster than he did. "Geez, have you like, ever eaten before?"

"All I had to eat at the temple my whole life was a bunch of vegetables. I've never eaten anything this good before! It's like, a million little fireworks going off inside my mouth."

"That's called sugar. There are also these little things called calories you might want to know about." Jesse said, watching her throw down an emptied bag of Doritos. "I'll just… uh, leave you to… _this_."

He stepped out of the pantry and bumped into Ethan. The taller boy glared down at Jesse with a look of distaste. "Hey man, will you stop with the evil looks? It's getting pretty old."

"Sorry. I just don't like you very much." Ethan said flatly, and continued walking.

"Feeling's mutual Sparky." Jesse grumbled. He started to walk the other way, but then decided he was feeling confident, and turned back around. "You know, you're actually a pretty good actor."

"What does that mean?" Ethan stopped in his tracks.

"You've got everybody convinced you're the tough, world-hating solitary guy who doesn't say much. By playing that role, you barely have to do any acting."

"What the hell are you walking about West?"

"What'd you tell Grayven about me? Did you mention my charm, my dashing good lucks, or my wonderful sense of humor?"

"You think _I'm _the spy?" Ethan asked in disbelief.

"Well look at the facts for a second. Grayven only erased your memories from the past two months. That'd be more than enough to ensure you'd forget about being the informant, meaning that you couldn't blow your cover on the battlefield. I think that if there weren't some ulterior motive going on there, he would have just erased all your memories and made you like babies or something. He didn't just choose the two month mark at random, there must be a reason. So I think that narrows it down to you, Flo, or Alex. Flo would have just dropped the sub to the bottom of the ocean and opened up the hatch if she were out to get us, so it isn't her. And Alex seems to genuinely hate Apokolips way too much to be an informant. I know what real hate looks like, and it's all Alex had toward Grayven yesterday. So that narrows it down to you."

"Like it couldn't be you? You'd steal the sink if it wasn't nailed down! You're a con artist, this is what you do!" Ethan barked.

"I only con when I actually have something to gain. And I'm smart enough to know that any deal with Apokolips will come back to haunt you. You on the other hand… you've gotten everything you ever wanted. You're out of the memory core, you get real food and you don't have to put up with scientists watching you all the time. This turned out pretty well for you, didn't it? And it all gets to continue if you get rid of us, right?"

"Whatever. I'm done with this." Ethan grunted and walked away. Jesse did the same.

**(Pilot Room – Same Time)**

Quinton walked slowly in the small room in the front of the submarine, where Flo worked keeping all the instruments regulated. He walked in on her in her underwear, just beginning to pull on a pair of pants. Quinton quickly ducked back out the door, feeling himself blush.

"You might as well come back." He heard her say, and stepped back in to see her sliding on a shirt and buttoning the jeans.

"Sorry, I'm not used to company in here." She said.

"Trust me, I don't mind."

"I figured." She laughed, and plopped down into the captain's chair.

"So listen… about yesterday… everything that happened?"

"Yeah."

"Is that still, you know… relevant?" He asked sheepishly. She smiled.

"Why don't _you _tell me, Quincy."

"Qu- Quincy?" He repeated. "Quincy. Wonderful. Just wonderful." He turned and began to leave, when she laughed and grabbed his shoulder.

"Dude, I was just kidding. Lighten up Quinton."

"Oh, good." Quinton sighed in relief, and turned around to face her. "So… my question?"

Without another word, Flo kissed him again. Upon pulling away, she asked, "Does that answer your question?"

"Not quite. I might need you to explain it to me again." He suggested. Flo laughed and pushed him away playfully.

"We'll review later. How's that sound?"

"I'll be sure to study."

Flo sat back down and closed her eyes, sending a telepathic message to the ship. After a moment, a second chair rose up out of the floor, made out of a comfortable but oddly fleshy substance. "Sit."

"So how does all this work?" Q inquired, looking over the various instruments in front of them.

"It mostly all responds to my aquatic telepathy. I have to make sure to keep it all in balance though, if my thoughts get too far out of place the ship kind of loses control. But I've always been able to keep it regulated without much trouble."

"I see." Quinton nodded. "So… I've got to ask, have you ever had a boyfriend before?"

"Well there have been a few dolphins in the past, but never anything serious."

"Dolphins?" Quinton gasped loudly.

"I'm joking again, Q." She laughed.

"Oh thank God." Quinton huffed.

"It was a whale."

"Uh… that's a joke, right?"

"Yes, Quinton. You could really stand to learn about sarcasm."

"I've been told."

"So why do you ask, anyway? Do you think of us as like, boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Well… are we?"

"I guess so. I mean, we've already made out like, twice. So I don't know where else to go from there."

"You don't sound too enthusiastic."

"Don't get me wrong, I really like you. Like, really _a lot_. But with everything going on right now, to put a label like that on it feels kind of weird."

"I know what you mean." Quinton agreed.

"How do you think everybody else is going to react? I mean, not that we have to tell them right away or anything…"

"Jesse already knows, and he was fine with it. Tommy is really the only obstacle… he'll probably see it as a distraction."

"He definitely will. Allie will keep him from being too much of a dick about it though, once we get her out." After a moment of silence, Flo continued with, "You told Jesse?"

"Yeah. I hate to say it, but I think Jesse's my best friend." Quinton shrugged. "Although his advice could be better."

"Wait, you seriously went to _Jesse _for advice? _Our _Jesse?" Flo laughed and leaned forward. "What the hell made you think that was a good idea."

"I didn't know what else to do. I was pretty distraught at that point."

"Oh. What was it about?" She asked, followed by a long pause.

"You." Quinton answered carefully.

"Oh. What about me?"

"I was just asking how to deal with my feelings toward you. I've been attracted to you for quite a while now, and I noticed that it was becoming difficult to think…"

"Well what did he say?"

"He told me that you were a Siren, and I should do the opposite of whatever I felt like because you were inevitably leading me to my death."

"Interesting." She said with a small laugh. "I like that name though… Siren. Way better than frickin' Aquagirl. I think that'll be my codename from now on."

"I like it." Quinton nodded. "Though it's a bit less compelling than The Answer."

"About that… we seriously need to work on that name Q." She smiled.

"What's wrong with Answer?"

"To be honest… it's really stupid."

"No it isn't! My dad went by The Question and nobody complained about that!"

"Well Question sounds all mysterious and deep, and The Answer sounds like a self help book for fat women."

"I don't have to take this!" Quinton scoffed and got up to leave.

"Where are you headed?"

"Nowhere."

"Q…"

"I'm going to ask Jesse about a new name, alright?"

"That's even worse."

"Don't worry; I won't fall for anything stupid. Hopefully."

"Ok then." Flo giggled and walked up to him. "I have to know one thing first, just since you lived with Allie and everything…"

"What?"

"You've never had a girlfriend, right?"

"Well… there was this fling with Dinah…"

"What?" Flo gaped.

"Gotcha'."

"You're a fast learner." She smiled, and kissed him quickly.

"You're a good teacher."

"Come back for another lesson later, if you want."

"I, um… I have no clever responses left, so I'll just go."

"Ok, you do that." Flo laughed and watched him leave.

**(Main Section)**

In the main room, between the captain's lodge and the pantry, sat Tommy, Troy, and Alex. Jesse joined them quickly, along with Quinton coming out of Flo's quarters.

"Where's Ethan at?" Troy yawned, still exhausted from yesterday's events.

"He's brooding by the pantry. Probably reporting back to Grayven right about now." Jesse mumbled.

"No, I doubt he's the spy." Tommy said thoughtfully. "Ethan hates interacting with people, period. He sure as hell isn't going to go out and make an alliance with the same people who imprisoned him for most of his life." He reasoned.

"I think the spy is in Corey's army. I'm good at reading people, and everybody here seems pretty solid to me." Troy stated.

"My money is on Jesse." Alex joined in.

"Me? But yesterday you said I would blow my own cover!" Jesse argued.

"I did. But then I got to thinking about it… you lived on the streets forever. You don't survive on these streets by dumb luck; it requires a lot of intelligence. I think you're playing a character."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah. I think you act like the happy-go-lucky dumbass to divert suspicion. It could definitely be you, as far as I'm concerned." Alex explained.

"I think it has to be that Fate girl. She's been stalking us for days, and none of us realized it? That's hard to believe." Tommy started. "Plus, she apparently had a vision about the world being destroyed, and that was enough to motivate her to track us down? It doesn't quite add up in my mind."

"But Grayven knew all our weaknesses, Tommy. Fate hasn't been around long enough to provide him with that kind of information." Alex interjected.

"As far as we know." Tommy pointed out. "But who knows how long she's _really _been following us."

"Look, guys, we could sit here and accuse each other all day, but it won't get us anywhere." Troy said. "The fact is, Grayven has a spy somewhere. We know that much. But whoever it is, they aren't going to fess up just because somebody points the finger at them."

"Troy's right." Tommy sighed. "But…"

"But what?" Alex solicited.

"Hold on, are we doing strip searches?" Jesse perked up. "I call dibs on Flo!" Quinton shot the speedster a glare, and Jesse quickly recoiled. "Fine. I'll take the new Goth chick."

"Shut up Jesse. We aren't doing any strip searches." Tommy looked to Troy. "We're going to use our human truth detector."

"Um, I don't think so man." Troy responded carefully.

"Why not? You can remove people's ability to lie. I say we line everybody up, and use you to question them one by one."

"I'm just not comfortable with that." Troy argued. "I hate using that power; it takes away the person's free will. I don't want to do that to my friends."

"Actually, I agree with Troy." Alex chimed in.

"I'm sure you do." Quinton said quietly, daggers in his voice, while he looked at Alex suspiciously.

"Anyway-" Alex continued, "We're finally getting some actual trust built among this group. And with trust comes teamwork, which is what we need to win. That sense of trust is going to be destroyed if we start putting everybody in Troy's iron grip and force them to tell us the absolute truth. It isn't healthy, and if it destroys our teamwork we're dead."

"We don't even know that the spy is in our team. And there's no point in screwing up our trust setup on a hunch. There are way more guys on Corey's roster than ours, which means there's a much better chance that its one of them anyway." Troy reasoned.

"I guess." Tommy sighed. "But the moment we have evidence that its one of us, we're going all out."

"I certainly hope so." Quinton said, his eyes still locked on Alex. "On a lighter note, what do you guys think about a new codename for me…"

"Flo finally tell you your name sucks?" Jesse inquired.

"No!"

"Oh. Why the sudden change then?"

"Alright, so Flo may have said something along those lines." Quinton folded his arms. "So what do you all have in mind?"

"I don't think it matters." Tommy grunted, and got up to leave.

"Face Off." Jesse suggested.

"What?"

"Yeah, like a face-off, but it also applies to you because you don't have a face while in your costume. Get it?"

"That's stupid Jesse."

"Hey, it's better than Answer!"

"Rorschach." Troy tried.

"What the hell is a Rawrshark?" Jesse exclaimed.

"Not rawrshark, dumbass. It's pronounced like raw-shock. Its actually the proper name for the ink blot test, you know, where you have to look at ink plots and tell what you see in them?"

"Rorschach? It's kind of cool… but why?"

"I don't know. It just works." Troy shrugged and folded his hands behind his head.

"You know what, I'm with Tommy. I don't really think it matters." Alex said, and left the group.

"So I'm between Face Off and Rorschach… oh boy." Quinton groaned. "I think I'm just going to take a nap or something."

"Wait a minute." Jesse said, sounding very serious. "Um… so just how far did you get in there?" He nodded toward Flo's room.

"What do you mean?"

"Well… did you get to second base at least?"

"What are you talking? There isn't room to play baseball in there!" Quinton shouted. Troy and Jesse exchanged intrigued looks with each other, and both seemed to be stifling a laugh. "What?"

"Nothing Q. Just be sure not to hit a home-run without your glove on." Troy laughed, and got up to leave.

"Frankly, I'm impressed he even got up to bat." Jesse said, and followed behind Troy.

"What the hell are you guys talking about? Jesse? Troy? Seriously guys, what's going on?"

"Oh, just as a reference for third base bro," Jesse called back, "Not _all _pros have to chew." He and Troy laughed loudly as the door into the pantry closed behind them.

"Freaks." Quinton shrugged, and sat down to take a nap.

**(Ruined Cadmus Building – Basement)**

Corey and Connor met in private after everyone in the army had been settled. Corey took a long drag on his cigarette, and blew a smoke ring toward his lieutenant. "We've thoroughly searched everyone we have left. No signs of anyone in our ranks being the traitor, but we'll keep watch. It'd be foolish to rule out the possibility this early on."

"Yeah." Connor said distantly, sounding like he were in coming out of a dream.

"What's got you so distracted lately Red?"

"This Allie girl… the one Tommy wants to save…"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Really, she's like, my little sister. Half-sister, but still."

"Your point?"

"Family is the point Corey. I've never really had any."

"Sad story, yeah. The same one all of us can tell, Connor."

"I think I'll go with them to The Hole. Just… just to see how it feels."

"It'll feel like a coffin six feet under." Corey said bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"You really think any of those kids are going to survive in The Hole? They have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

"You said you'd help!"

"I said I'd give them info. If they still want to go after I tell them about it, then they're stupid and probably deserve to die anyway."

"You know, you can be an asshole some times."

"I don't really care."

"They're going to go, no matter what you say. You know that right?"

"Then they're stupid."

"No, they're people. With feelings. That's something I think you forgot about." Connor got up and stormed off. "I'll go with them. And if I die… I'll see you soon in Hell."

"We're already in hell, Hood."

"I mean the one we deserve."

"Deserve? Why we-"

"Don't even start it, Corey. Can you name one good thing we've done? Even one?"

"We've liberated almost a hundred people!"

"No we haven't! We've busted them out of prisons and manipulated them into fighting for us. That isn't liberation Corey, that's instituting a draft for a suicide mission. And I want no part of it."

"What are you trying to say?"

"We lie, we cheat, we steal, and we kill. We've become almost as bad as the people we're fighting against, and I'm done with it. Once I'm out of The Hole, I'll be here to pack my things."

"Connor-"

"Oh, wait, that's right! I don't really own anything, because you're a paranoid jackass who thinks everything is secretly being tracked! I'm done with it Corey. You call yourself a hero, but all you do is racketeer assassins who don't even want to be assassins. Screw you."

And with that, Connor was gone.

**(Apokolips – Darkseid's Palace)**

"I gave you three-hundred parademons, and two-hundred drones. I gave you a warship, an informant, and an assistant. And on top of that, I gave you one simple order… to kill a group of children. But instead, you come back with a diminished army, a ruined ship, and the wounds of an absolute disgrace." Darkseid lectured, glaring at his son.

"But father-"

"You have proven to me that you are incapable of even the simplest task, regardless of the resources supplied to you. You are an incompetent waste of space, and a black mark on my lineage."

"No, father. I didn't kill any of the children you ordered, in that respect I failed greatly. But I finally uncovered Corey Jones and his operation, as well!" Grayven said, defending himself.

"Yes. And that is precisely the reason why I am letting you live."

"One more chance father… one more chance and I can make them pay! I'll bring you their heads on a platter, and let you crush them!"

"You made a similar promise once before. I do not believe in second chances."

"But-"

"I will assign you to Kalibak's hit squad. He is even less intelligent than you are, but at least he has successful missions on his record, which is far more than I can say for you."

"Thank you, father." Grayven said grudgingly. "I'll find out their location and-"

"There is no need for that." Darkseid glowered. "We already know where they are headed."

**AN: Short chapter for this story, I know. Next chapter we finally learn Allie's fate, so stay tuned!**

**Also, your input on Quinton's codename would be greatlt appreciated. If you have anything good, let me know! **


	13. The Hole

Chapter Thirteen: The Hole

"Tuesday, December 1st. It's finally going down… we're on our way to The Hole as I speak. I talked to Corey in detail about what we'll need to do… and it's looking rough. We got a plan put together, but if by the way it sounds… if we make it out of here alive, it'll be a miracle. Then again, we've been pulling a lot of miracles out of our asses lately, so why should this be an exception? I hope Allie's ok. She needs to be ok… _I _need her to be ok. Allie keeps me sane, and I just… I need her here. Especially now, with all the pressure on me, everyone depending on me to do it right. I'd never let the team know this, but I'm terrified. Like, shaking in fear, can't sleep at night, always stressed out. That kind of terrified. If anything goes wrong, if anyone gets hurt, it's all on me. The burden is huge. I've never been so afraid before, but I've also never been so determined. Allie is in trouble, plain and simple, and I'm going to save her. No matter what it takes, I will get her out of there. This is Tommy Grayson, signing out." The video screen went dark, and Tommy put the journal on the floor, where it would be safe.

He got to his feet and stepped out of the armor. Flo had switched the ship to flight mode, and they were high in the cloud banks. Alex had his EMP pulse generator on full power, masking the ship from radar. Tommy took a deep breath, and scanned the group sitting around the main room. There was his team, along with Connor and Chris, who had chosen to come on their own free will. "How long?" Tommy asked, looking to Flo.

"Ten minutes, and we'll be approaching The Hole." She answered.

"Alright. Quick, let's run through the plan one more time." Tommy nodded. "We split into groups of two. Jesse and Fate will get onto the premises and set up the bombs Corey provided us. That'll provide enough of a distraction for Ethan and Alex to move in and take out the surveillance. From there, Flo and Connor will get into the tunnel systems underneath the compound, and set up our escape route. Jesse and Fate then set off the rest of the bombs in the armory, drawing the guard's attention, as well as crippling their weapons supply."

"Yeah, so about that… what happens when the guards get there?" Jesse asked after raising his hand.

"You'll get down and join Flo and Connor underground. Corey made it sound like you should be able to hide down there for a long time. Anyway…" Tommy continued. "Once the guards have been directed toward the armory, Quinton and Chris will infiltrate the cell building, and find out where Allie is. That's where Troy and I come in. The two of us will break in, get Allie out of there, and meet the rest of you at the rendezvous point… the catacombs. Corey drew us up a map of entrances, and none of them should be too hard to find. Once there, we make our escape. Everybody clear?"

"Yeah, just one question," Jesse raised his hand. "Are you insane? This plan sounds like it was thrown together in ten minutes!"

"Actually it took fifteen, the first five were spent picking the teams." Tommy responded.

"So what about this supposed Kryptonian?" Alex questioned.

"If Q and Chris have time, they'll search the database for that too. But if you guys need to get out of there, forget about it and get the hell out of there. Allie is our main priority." Tommy stated.

"I also have a question." Fate chimed in. "Why did you put me with Jesse?"

"You have cloaking and teleportation spells. Jesse has super speed. You two have the best chance of setting up this distraction without getting caught."

"What bothers me is that Corey put all this together, and then he didn't even have the balls to show up!" Alex threw in.

"He had a lot of bad experiences in The Hole. You can't blame him for not wanting to go back." Connor reasoned.

"Still, it just seems like a dick move on his part." Alex grumbled.

"Tommy, we're within range of The Hole." Flo said loudly.

"Alright, everybody suit up!"

The group activated their Atlantean armor. Jesse was suited up in his padded costume, but had opted to change the colors. The suit was now mostly a lightning-blue, with flares of bright yellow in some areas. He uttered his code name, "Impulse."

Quinton had also changed up his costume… his trench coat was now black! He uttered the phrase, "Unknown."

"Unknown? Is that the name you're going with?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"No, it means my name is unknown right now." Quinton replied. "Why, does it sound good to you?"

"Well its better than Answer." Jesse shrugged.

Flo suited up in her dark blue, skin-tight, bullet-resistant suit. She said the name, "Siren."

Alex simply placed his facemask back on. "Ricochet."

Connor pulled up the red bandana to cover up the lower half of his face, and brought up his scarlet hood. "Red Hood."

Chris transformed into a sleek, all-metal form of himself. "Alloy."

Ethan's Atlantean chest plate transformed and gave him a thick rubber voltage suit, made up of dark black and blue colors. He also had a thick blue and yellow jacket over it, and a domino mask on his face. "Thunder."

Troy suited up with a lightweight suit of Amazonian-like armor that covered his chest, back, shoulders and areas of his legs. The armor was made up of dark red and gold, and on his wrists were steel bracelets similar to those used by Wonder Woman, but his had spikes flaring off the sides, similar to Batman's gauntlets, but a bit shorter. His sword was held magnetically to his back, and he could remove it with ease at any time. He grimaced.

"You don't like it?" Flo grinned.

"It's a bit too… colorful." Troy groaned.

"Deal with it for now. What's your name?" Tommy said flatly.

"Titan." Troy said with a grin.

Fate snapped her fingers, and her body was overcome in a golden glow. When it faded, she wore a dark gray suit, with a cape and a veil of sorts around her face, allowing only her eyes to show through. "I'm still working on perfecting the costume, but… I'll by the name Sage."

Finally, Tommy allowed the Atlantean armor to provide him a suit for the first time. When the light faded, he wore combat boots, black gloves, black cargo pants with several pockets full of more equipment, the same utility belt, and his same leather jacket over a new tight black t-shirt made out of a bullet-resistant fabric, with a large red emblem on the chest… the emblem of a bat. The jacket remained unzipped, allowing the emblem to show. In his hands was a full-face helmet, light and conformed to the shape of his face, but concealing his identity. Even the small screens for the eyes were made to look pure white from the outside. He placed it on his head. "Knight." Then he turned and faced the group. "Let's do this."

A doorway opened up in the floor of the sub, revealing The Hole below. It was surrounded by water, probably filled with dangerous Apokoliptian sea creatures. "You ready for this?" Siren, or Flo, asked as she looked to Red Hood.

"As I'll ever be." Hood sighed as he strapped on his breathing apparatus. Then the two leapt downward and dove into the waters below. Flo hit first with a confident splash. Hood looked down in fear, knowing that from a height like he had just jumped from, hitting the water would be like hitting concrete. He braced himself for impact, but as promised, Flo manipulated the water and made it suck him in harmlessly.

"Let's get this done." Siren smiled. They looked at the large steel doorway in front of them, leading into the catacombs beneath The Hole. Corey said the doors were occasionally opened to let water flush in and wash away all the dead bodies that they tossed down into the catacombs.

"How are we supposed to open that?" Hood asked through the speaker on his mouthpiece.

"Easy. Just move, like, right now." Siren said confidently. Hood looked to his right, and saw a gigantic shark sailing toward him!

"Whoa!" He shouted and kicked away from the creature's mouth. That was when he saw the tentacles. A series of tentacles erupted from holes in the shark's back, and lunged after Hood! He moved swiftly and pulled out his sword, hacking and slashing them away as fast as he could, but he was quickly losing ground. "Hey, Flo! Aren't you supposed to be doing something about this?"

"I'm trying! And we're in the mission, my name is Siren!' She shouted, trying to reach the creature with her aquatic telepathy. But she found herself unable to tame its rage. "This is a problem, I can't control it!"

"Wonderful!" Hood screamed as one of the tentacles latched onto his shoulder. Flo got a closer look at the creature, and saw that it was heavily protected by a thin but strong layer of an almost transparent shell. Her telepathy wasn't getting through! She instead swam at an incredible speed up to Hood, dodging gracefully out of the way of the tentacles, pulled out her solid-water electrified swords. She slashed away the tentacles pulling hood into the creature's mouth, and gave him one of the swords.

"Keep yourself alive for a minute, ok?" She said.

"What are you going to do?"

"Get eaten." Then she allowed herself to be grasped by an oncoming tentacle, and the beast pulled her into its mouth! The creature clamped its jaws around her, and she was gone!

"What the hell?" Hood shrieked while slashing back more tentacles. He was pushed back into the wall of rock behind him, fighting for his life. "Crazy stupid bit-"

Suddenly the tentacles retracted, and the shark reared to the left in what looked like a violent power struggle. Then, without warning, it rammed aggressively into the circular steel doorway. It struck again and again, denting the metal repeatedly. Finally, the door gave way and was crushed into the catacombs. Water began to pour in, sucking the Red Hood along with it. He was pulled forcibly into the stony cave, and braced for the inevitable impact with a rock wall, when a tentacle wrapped around his waist and held him in place! He looked over his shoulder to see Flo rise up out of one of the holes in the creature's back, covered in stomach fluids that were quickly washed away by the running water. She held out her hands and took control of the current, and with great effort, forced the water back outside the cave. Then she focused even harder, and managed to ice over the water in front of the hole, freezing them off safely inside the catacombs. She looked to Hood, breathing heavily. "I got it."

"Sweet!" Hood exclaimed, when suddenly a tentacle came around and smacked him in the face, knocking him onto the floor. He looked up dizzily. "What the hell was that for?"

"You called me a bitch out there. Never do that." She said seriously, and then took off down the tunnels. "Come on, we've got work to do."

"Damn, she's nuts." Hood shook his head and followed behind her.

**(Back in the Ship)**

"We're in." Hood said though his comlink.

"Took you long enough." Tommy responded.

"We ran into a delay."

"But you didn't get caught?"

"Not unless there was a camera inside the shark's digestive tract. In which case, they would have seen Flo."

"What?"

"Never mind. Just letting know we're clear. Hood out." The transmission was cut off.

"Jesse, Fate, you're up." Tommy instructed.

"Alright!" Fate got a running start and leapt eagerly out the hatch.

"Why are the chicks on this team insane?" Jesse grumbled. Then he readied his parachute, and jumped after her. As the two fell, Fate began to chant in what sounded like Latin, until suddenly an eerie purple light washed over them. "What the hell was that?" Jesse shouted.

"Cloaking spell!" She shouted back. Parachutes went off, and the duo touched the ground gently on the compound that was The Hole. Several smaller buildings scattered the ground in rows, but in the center of the compound was a massive building, where all the children were kept. Jesse ducked into a narrow alleyway between two buildings, but stopped in his tracks when an armored guard appeared at the other end. Jesse's pulse pounded and he readied himself for a fight, but the guard just walked right by him, leaving Jesse in utter confusion. After a few moments, Fate walked up to him and whispered, "I told you already, idiot. Cloaking spell."

The two moved on, and placed one of the small powerful bombs onto each building they found, being sure to conceal them as well as possible. After about ten minutes of the tedious work, Jesse let out a sigh. "You know what? I'm just going to run ahead and do this myself. It'll be much faster."

"No, because you'll screw it up." Fate snapped.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you screw everything up."

"What are you-?"

"I've been watching you guys for quite a while. And you always seemed like the weak link to me. If there's a screw up on the team, it always seems to be _your _screw up."

"How can I possibly mess this up too bad? If I accidentally set off a bomb, I'm just blowing up Apokoliptian crap!" He began to shout and Fate clasped her hand around his mouth.

"Shut up stupid! They can't see us; it doesn't mean they can't hear us!" She whispered harshly. The two continued on together and set more explosives.

"So who are you, anyway? I mean, all we know is that you're some stalker sorcerer chick who showed up out of the blue and apparently sees the future. It's weird, to say the least."

"Well what do you want to know?"

"For starters, you said you inherited your powers from your parents? Well who the hell were they?"

"Oh boy…" Fate sighed like it was the most complicated question in the world. "Ok, so biologically, my mother was Zatanna Zatarra, and my father was Jason Blood. But the thing is… I was miscarried."

"What?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"It means there were problems with the pregnancy, and I died before birth."

"Yeah, know what it means. But the problem is, you're alive!"

"I'm getting to that. I was dead, and my mother was devastated. But for some reason, my spirit never really left the Earth. And a lot of angry spirits saw me as an easy target, and went after me. I was protected by a ghost named Boston Brand, he went by Deadman. I don't know why I remember it so vividly, but I do."

"Ok, weird. So then what?"

"Oh, it gets weirder. Ever heard of Madam Xandu?"

"Think so. Creepy fortune teller lady?"

"Yeah. Well, The Invasion began… and Madam Xandu had a vision, and it involved… well, I don't really know what it involved, to tell you the truth. But it was something really bad. And when The Invasion started to look bleak for humanity, all the remaining mystics got together… Zatanna, Jason Blood, John Constantine, Dr. Fate, Xandu, Captain Marvel… they all got together and poured all of their remaining magic into my spirit and body… and actually resurrected me, imbued with all of their energies combined."

"Why?"

"Because they wanted a powerful agent to battle whatever it was that Xandu saw coming. And that agent turned out to be me."

"They brought you back from the dead to use you as a weapon?"

"Something like that. And then they had Deadman take me somewhere where I would be safe, until I grew old enough to fight for myself. He took me to Nanda Parbat, where the spirits of the monks raised me."

"Yeah, that's weird." Jesse nodded, placing another bomb. "So if you're supposed to be so powerful, how come you haven't just zapped Darkseid away and made everything better yet?"

"Because I can't control it." Fate sighed. "You see, there are two main types of magic… orderly, and chaotic. Chaotic magic is random and unfocused, and usually has to do with occult stuff like demons and resurrections. And orderly magic is more on a cosmic level, it has to do with keeping balance in the universe and making everything stay in line. And I was imbued with both types of magic."

"So?"

"So, they aren't supposed to coexist together. A sorcerer can only master one type, because it's impossible to control both. And their kind of mixing together inside of me… I have trouble keeping any of it balanced. Spells rarely work out the way I want them to, I've hit a lucky streak lately."

"Yeah, Q told me you stuck yourself inside the ground when you guys first met." Jesse grinned. Finally, they finished placing bombs on numerous rows of buildings. "Shall we get going?"

"I think we shall." Fate nodded. Then the speedster scooped her up in his arms and zoomed off to a safe distance, before they pressed the detonator switch.

**(Back in the Ship)**

A large section of the compound was suddenly engulfed in flames, as over thirty buildings went up in smoke! Immediately, panic arose in The Hole. "Jesse and Fate are done. No keeping it a secret now guys, they know we're here! We need to move fast!" Tommy shouted.

"We're up Sparky." Alex said, donning the Ricochet mask and nodding to Thunder. The two quickly headed out the hatch and took off. Thunder's voltage suit erupted into a flare of lighting, and he took off into flight, while Alex pulled a metal snowboard from his back and flung it beneath his feet. He used his magnetism to make it soar through the air, and he sailed after his partner.

"We've gotta' knock out the communications tower first, so that they can't call for reinforcements! After that, we cripple the security system so Q and Chris can get inside and find out where they're keeping Allie!" Ricochet shouted.

"Yeah, I know. Just try to keep up pretty boy!" Thunder shouted back. The moved at high speed toward the control tower, being sure to showboat as much as they could along the way, doing flips and dodging around objects, trying to outdo one another. Once they were near the tower, Ricochet charged fired what was left of the energy in his EMP gauntlet at it, disrupting any signal it may have been sending out beyond comprehension. Then he flew around it and let out a wave of magnetism that literally crushed the tower into a thin, mutilated iron twig. Ethan then flew to the booth beneath the tower and fired in a surge of electrical energy that fried the drones inside.

"Easy so far." Thunder shouted up.

"Yup. Easier than I thought, definitely. Those explosions really screwed with the security personnel around here." Ricochet smiled behind his mask. "Now let's that surveillance system."

"Right. Where do we find that?"

"Corey said the control room would be toward the top of that really big building over there."

"Let's do it then." Thunder took off, and Ricochet followed. They flew swiftly to the center of The Hole, and Ricochet was able to pick out the control room for the surveillance system relatively easily. Breaking into places was what he did for fun.

"That one." He pointed to the proper section of the tower. "I'm out of juice in my EMP gun, you'll have to take this one out on your own."

"No problem." Thunder smiled, and erupted toward the room with as much energy as he could possibly put out! He smashed violently into the room and enveloped everything. The electric wave sliced straight through and cut the top section of the tower off!

"Sweet!" Ricochet exclaimed, touching down next to his partner and looking at the charred remains of the control room. "That should do it."

The sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairway rang in. "Guards are coming." Thunder said. "We should hurry up and get out of here before-" Suddenly Ethan was struck in the back by what felt like a bullet. He stumbled forth in agony, and pulled out one of Ricochet's heavy golden marbles. "What the hell are you doing man?"

Without another word, Ricochet used magnetism to lift up a fallen metal beam. He then smashed the beam into Thunder's chest, smashing him against the wall. The beam began to bend, and constricted the hero, holding him firmly in place. "Alex! What are you doing?"

"Don't take it personal Sparky." Ricochet said with venom in his tone. "There's just something I need to do, and you aren't involved." He threw down his mask. "Oh, and the name's Alexander Luthor."

And with that, Alex was off, leaving Thunder on his own to face the guards.

**(Back in the Ship)**

Watching the towers go down from above, Tommy smiled knowing things were coming together. He gave the signal for Quinton and Chris, or Alloy and 'unknown,' to move out. The two headed down with parachutes and landed on top of the main building, looking up at the smoldering remains of the tower.

"Something doesn't feel right about this." Q said uneasily.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I just… I don't know, I have a bad feeling."

"Well duh, this is basically a suicide mission." Alloy laughed it off. "We'll infiltrate here, and once we're in and out of sight, Jesse and Fate will set off the bombs at the armory. And then we're home free."

"Yeah, I guess." Q sighed. Alloy then morphed his arm into a glass cutter, and sliced a circular hole out of the skylight. The two heroes slipped in through the hole. Quinton focused for a moment, and his costume began to glow.

"What's going on with you?"

"That's the good thing about not having a face. You can get a new one." Q said, and when the glow faded, he looked exactly like one of the guards!

"Dude! I didn't know you could do that!"

"I wasn't exactly sure either, to tell you the truth."

"Well, my turn." Alloy turned toward the steel wall, touched his hands to it, and then his body melded into the wall! He merged with the metal and began moving along the inside of the wall, with a disguised Quinton walking right next to him. They passed by several guards along the way, and knew they weren't going to be able to get into the data storage room without Jesse and Fate's little distraction. After pacing around the building for a few minutes, panic began to arise. "Um… Q? Where's that distraction?"

"I'm not sure."

**(Jesse and Fate – Ten Minutes Earlier)**

The cloaked duo of Jesse and Fate, otherwise known as Impulse and Sage, moved quickly toward the armory. A large group of armed parademons stood lined up outside, waiting for a fight. The two young heroes each took half of their bomb reserves, Fate storing hers in a purse, and Jesse keeping his in the various food-pill compartments of his suit. "You cover one half of the building, I'll get the other." Fate whispered.

"Got it." Jesse nodded. The girl then took off and phased in through the wall of the building. Jesse zoomed up toward the guards, knowing full well that they couldn't see him, and started to taunt them. He waved his arms two inches away, and made several faces at them, stifling his laughs all the way.

Inside, Fate had placed a few of the bombs when she noticed the aura around her starting to fade. "Crap, the spell's wearing off." She muttered. Then her mind wandered to Jesse, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Crap! The spell's wearing off! Jesse!" She poked her head outside and to her horror, saw Jesse drop his pants and moon the guards.

Jesse craned his neck and saw Fate looking at him. She mouthed the words, "Its – wearing – off!" But Jesse couldn't make out what she was trying to say, he had always been bad at that. _Probably just commenting on my ass. _He thought. Then he heard a sharp grunt, and looked back to see the parademons wide eyed and looking right at him.

"Ah shit." He grunted, and dodged out of the way of a javelin at super speed! He evaded several more strikes and sprinted off toward Fate. But before he could grab onto her, a blast was fired right behind his feet, blowing the speedster through the dirt. Quickly they were surrounded by parademons, circling the heroes viciously. "You know what Fate, you were right. I screwed this right the hell up."

"Wasn't your fault, I should've warned you the spell would wear off."

"Yeah, you should have. You know what? This is _your _fault!"

"Shut up Jesse! This is serious!" The parademons closed in on them further. "What do we do?"

"Detonate the bombs."

"What? But we're still in the blast zone!"

"I'll put up a vibration barrier around us, it'll throw up a lot of rubble and shield us from the majority of the blast."

"But Jesse-"

"I promise we'll be ok. I rarely screw up twice in a row, I promise."

"Ok." Fate let out a deep sigh and pulled the detonator, closed her eyes tightly, and pressed the button.

"Haha! Adios motha' fucka's!" Jesse screamed, throwing his arms up in the air. Nothing happened. He waited a moment longer. Still nothing. "Fate?"

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't those bombs have like, exploded by now?"

"Should've."

"But they didn't."

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"No clue."

"Did you remember to weaponize them?"

"What…?"

"Yeah, Fate, you were supposed to weaponize them by turning off the signal lock! They won't explode until they're weaponized! Didn't you notice me doing to that to every single other bomb we planet?"

"No, I wasn't paying attention!"

"Well now who screwed up, huh?"

"Shut up Jesse."

And then the bickering ended, because the parademons closed in, shocked them both to the ground, and took them captive.

**(Data Center)**

"That distraction isn't happening!" Quinton whispered.

"I know. Something must have happened to Jesse and Fate." Alloy whispered back.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, we came here for a reason. I don't want to abandon it now."

"You really want to try and do this with all the guards in the building?"

"What choice do we have?"

"Huh… I suppose. I'll need you to at least clear the guards near the door with our own little distraction."

"I can do that."

They approached the room where the files on all of the children in The Hole were kept. Alloy then raced down to the other end of the hallway, still inside the wall, and allowed his torso to peek out. He morphed his hand into a hammer, and smashed it against the wall a few times, creating a racket. Soon the guards in the hall were rushing to the area. Alloy sunk back in as fast as he could, and went off to lure them further. Now that there were no guards by the door, Quinton was able to hack the code mechanism locking the door and open it up. As expected, there were two guards already in the data center. They looked at the disguised Quinton suspiciously, and one rambled something off in an alien language that must have been a question as to why he was there.

In response, Quinton quickly pointed to the back of the room and made excited noises. The guards looked back to see what was so interesting, and Quinton punched them both in the back of the neck hard enough to sever their spinal cords. The guards fell limp onto the floor, and Quinton continued on, whistling all the way. He found the computer containing information on all of the 'orphans' stuck in The Hole. Suddenly Tommy came through on his comlink. "Q! You need to get out of there now!"

"Hold on just a minute." Quinton replied.

"No, you don't understand! Jesse and Fate got captured, all of the guards are headed your way right now!"

"I'll find a way out, just hold on."

"Quinton no! You need to get out immediately!" As Tommy said this, Q reached up and turned off the comlink.

"Distractions." He muttered. A moment later he was finally able to hack the database, and found the cell block Allie was in. Just another click, and he'd be able to learn which cell…

A blast fired out and destroyed the consol, blowing shrapnel into Quinton! It disrupted his costume's camouflage system, and he fell to the ground in a black trench coat, and without a face. He looked up to see a swarm of guards flooding in, headed off Psimon nonetheless. "Finally leave Grayven's little circle?" Quinton muttered as he struggled onto his feet.

"I was promoted." Psimon said with a smile. One of the guards through Chris out onto the floor in front of Quinton, covered in blood.

"I tried to distract them for you…" Chris coughed up blood. "B- But… they got me…"

"All it took was a little poking around in his mind, and I learned where you were." Psimon grinned cruelly. "You should have listened to your friend Tommy when you had the chance. Now you're dead, just like the rest."

"Not quite." Quinton huffed, clutching his bloodied right arm.

"Kill him." Psimon told his army. But then Quinton pulled open his trench coat, revealing a large bomb strapped to his chest!

"I borrowed this from Corey too. I never go anywhere without a good backup plan. This bomb has enough power to blow this whole building sky high! You shoot me, you're all dead!"

"Idiot." Psimon laughed and pushed into Quinton's mind. Q tried to fight it off, but Psimon's influence was stronger than he had expected.

"Now… Psimon says, take that bomb off, and slid it gently to me."

Quinton did as instructed, having no other choice. Psimon was completely in control. His body like a puppet, Quinton slid the bomb over to Psimon as gently as he could. The weapon rested gently at Psimon's feet. "There, isn't that better?" The villain said with a triumphant smile, and placed on of his feet on top of the bomb.

"Of course. I should have known I would be powerless to resist you." Quinton said dryly. Then he grinned. "Oh wait… I did."

"What?" Psimon raised a confused eyebrow.

"That bomb is set so that if it loses contact with my heartbeat, it automatically explodes in sixty seconds." Quinton smiled, and Psimon looked down in horror to see the timer on the bomb at his feet! He tried to run away, but found that he couldn't lift his steel-toed boot up!

"Did I mention the frame of the bomb is magnetized?" Quinton's grin widened.

"Impossible! I read your mind!"

"That's why I wasn't thinking about it."

At that moment, Chris got to his feet and smashed a hole in the wall. "See you later, oh wait… no I won't." He taunted before jumping out to safety. Quinton started to follow after him.

"Wait! Stop! Psimon says return! Psimon says-" Suddenly Q hurled a large chunk of rubble that struck Psimon in the face!

"Quinton says shut the hell up." Q shouted back, and then jumped after Chris. Psimon recuperated from the blow and looked down at the bomb as the timer hit zero… then nothing happened. The words HA-HA flashed across the timer screen.

"No!" He shrieked. He ripped off his boot, bomb and all, and whipped the weapon right into the wall. And this is what triggered the explosion. The villain, and all of his soldiers, were suddenly blown to pieces. From down below, Quinton and Chris watched the fireworks.

"Should we feel guilty about that?" Q inquired.

"Nah. Psimon did it to himself, he shouldn't have thrown the bomb." Chris shrugged.

"Good point."

Once the fires dulled down, Quinton got to his feet and signaled Tommy. "Allie is in Cell Block D."

**(Holding Cell)**

Jesse and Fate were shoved into the holding cell in handcuffs. "Oh great. It just had to be _you_." Ethan grumbled as he saw Jesse stumble in.

"Sparky? Dude, what are you in for?" Jesse chimed.

"Can you not take anything seriously?" Fate groaned.

"No, he's just an idiot by nature. He can't help it." Ethan snapped.

"Come on guys, this isn't even that bad." Jesse sat against the wall. "At least we get coed cells. In other prisons they cut you off from the opposite gender."

"We're going to get killed, don't you get it?" Ethan barked. "These cells aren't designed to hold anyone long term. They put us in here, gas us, and throw our bodies into the catacombs."

"Large prison-camps, gas chambers… God, if I didn't know better I'd think we were fighting Nazis."

"Jesse please shut up!" Fate shouted. "We really don't need your dumbass sense of humor right now!"

"Just trying to lighten the mood." Jesse muttered, and turned his head away from the other two.

"It's Alex." Ethan growled.

"What is?"

"The traitor. Alex is the traitor."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because after we took out the surveillance system, he shot me in the back and stuck me to the wall so the guards could take me! Then he said something about having his own business, and he said his name was Alexander Luthor."

"Luthor? Sounds familiar…" Jesse thought. "Luthor… bald evil dude right?"

"Bald _super _evil dude." Fate added. "Even the spirits of the monks knew about him. He was supposed to be the most wicked man to ever live."

"And now his son got us all killed." Ethan nodded.

"Well that sucks!" Jesse exclaimed. "We need to let Tommy know somehow, we have to warn the others before-"

"Jesse, it's too late man. We're all gonna die here." Ethan leaned his head back against the cold tile wall of the small cell, lit only by a dim light bulb.

"Sorry I accused you."

"Same to you."

A loud clicking noise rang out, and a series of vents opened near the top of the room. And then a thick, dark colored gas began to pour in. "Here we go." Ethan closed his eyes and waited.

"Hold on, I know this stuff!" Jesse exclaimed as he smelled the gas. "Some guys in Gotham try and sell it now and then. It's called Fear Gas…"

"Jesse, I really don't want to die listening to you ramble."

"Sorry. But you should really know something-"

"Jess-" Then the nightmare began. The Fear Gas set in, and all three of them began to hallucinate. Horrible, terrifying visions of everything they had ever feared flashed before their eyes, raising their pulses, throwing them into a sweat… and killing them with terror.

Jesse shrieked, seeing a horde of zombies crawl the walls of the cell, coming toward him. He tried to kick them away, but found himself sinking into the floor. Across the room he saw Ethan and Fate. They were melting, shrieking, and burning, drenched in blood and gnawing on flesh. Jesse fell through the floor into a dark void, where suddenly zombified versions of his friends rose up out of the ground, and began to move toward him hungrily, all the while shrieking horrible cries. "You couldn't save us Jesse-" One yelled.

"You can't take anything seriously!"

"You screwed up again…"

"Why didn't you save us Jesse?"

"Why didn't you help us?" They chanted as they began to tear into his flesh. Suddenly he saw the image of his sister, Jessica… she walked pleasantly toward him, happy… and then she burst into flames and started to rot.

"Dead! Because of you! Dead! You weren't good enough Jesse! You let me die! You let me die because you were too weak to do anything about it!"

"I'm sorry…" Jesse cried. "Jessica I'm so sorry… I wanted to help you, but I was so scared…"

"And now I'm dead." Then she reached into Jesse's chest, and ripped out his heart. As Jesse screamed, he saw her crush the organ in her palm, allowing the blood to gush out… and Jesse died.

**(Catacombs)**

"Jesse! Wake up! Jess?" Flo pleaded. Slowly the speedster's eyes came open, and he sat up. The world was still spinning around him, his heart pounding against his chest, his lungs gasping for air. He was in a cave of some sorts. And it smelled like death.

"Flo?"

"Thank God." She sighed in relief. "Your heart stopped. I've been using my healing powers on you for almost twenty minutes!"

"What happened?"

"The ceiling kind of opened up, and you, Ethan and Fate fell down here screaming like banshees. Connor recognized it as Fear Gas, and we did everything we could to help you guys."

"Where are Fate and Ethan?"

"They're with Connor, still under the gas's effect." Flo answered grimly. "Your super fast metabolism was able to burn out the poison relatively quickly. For them, it could be hours yet. If they make it."

"Well that isn't very encouraging." Jesse huffed. How long had he been under the gas's effect before the doors to the catacombs even opened? Minutes, hours, days? It all seemed to blur together, like one long, unbearable nightmare that was lucky to have survived.

"Jess…"

"Yeah?"

"I was able to make out some of what you were screaming, you know, before your heart stopped. There was a lot of rambling about you not being good enough… about people dying because of you."

"Uh-huh?"

"Is that why you're always goofing off all the time? You're afraid that if you give it your all, you won't be good enough?"

There was a long moment of silence. In truth, that was _e_x_actly _it. But Jesse didn't want to admit that. Definitely not now. Looking for a way to change the subject, Jesse thought back to what Ethan had said, about Alex being the traitor… and his eyes opened up wide. "Alex!"

"What? What about him?"

"He's the traitor!"

"What?"

"Yeah, he beat up Ethan and he's Alexander Luthor!"

"Jesse, maybe you should lay back down-"

"No, I'm fine!" Jesse grabbed her comlink, his having been smashed during the fall. He contacted Tommy and shouted into the speaker, "Alex! Alex is the traitor!"

**(Cell Block D – Five Minutes Earlier)**

Tommy and Troy, or Knight and Titan, had arrived to Cell Block D rather quickly. But just as quickly, they found out that the cell blocks were made up of one hundred cells each!

"Allie could be in any one of these!" Troy shouted.

"I know. Look fast." He said, and began to bust open cell doors, looking for Allie. Troy did the same. Whenever they found a kid who wasn't Allie, they would tell them to stay put, making sure they didn't run out into the crossfire. They searched for several minutes, having no luck, before Jesse came in on the comlink. Before Tommy even had a chance to acknowledge that he was listening, Jesse started screaming. "Alex! Alex is the traitor!"

"What? Slow down Jesse, just-"

"Tommy, listen to me! It's Alex. He turned on Ethan and headed off on his own, and get this, his dad was Lex Luthor!"

"Jesse, where exactly are you getting this information from?"

"Just listen to me, ok? I don't know what he's up to, but you have to stop him! I mean it!"

"Hey Tommy, you might want to see this." Troy called, and the hero walked over to his brother. Troy pointed to a screen showing a blurry, damaged camera screen. But the image of Alex could just barely be seen, trapping Ethan against a wall! "This camera is stuck on a loop from about thirty minutes ago. Jesse isn't lying."

"Oh God…" Tommy clenched his fists. "Troy, keep looking for Allie. Alex is mine."

**(Granny Goodness's Earth-House)**

"Goodness!" Alex screamed, ripping through yet another set of drones. He dropped down in front of a pair of double doors, and hit them with a powerful magnetic wave, tearing them apart. Instantly a hail of bullets rained upon him, and he blew them all out of the air with a magnetic pulse. He sailed in and tore down the drones before moving quickly to another door. "Goodness! I know you're here!"

"Why don't you come on down and see Granny, then? It's been too long, young Alexander." Granny Goodness's voice said over an intercom. Alex growled, and magnetically crushed the speakers.

"You're going to pay!" He burst out into the arena used to test potential new recruits, where an army of female warriors awaited him. He blasted through them all with ease, and took off in a sprint toward the observer's box, where Goodness stood and watched! More warriors came at him, but he was able to turn their own weapons against them and take them down. He jumped upward with a repulsion-powered leap and crashed atop the armored box containing his target. Releasing a magnetic wave, he ripped off the roof of the observer's box and leapt downward, slashing the woman with one of his wrist blades. Granny Goodness started to spark, and then oil started to leak from the puncture… "Oh crap." Alex crashed out the window and fell downward as the observer's box erupted in flame!

"You didn't really think I'd just be sitting on boring old Earth, now did you? It was a hoax to draw you here, honey. All those rumors you heard about me being at The Hole, they were all staged, just to lead you to your own doom!" She hissed from another speaker.

"Bitch!" Alex shrieked. "I'll find you and tear you limb from limb!"

"I'm _sure_."

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"You know who. My sister, Alexis Luthor! The one you stole from me!"

"Oh, you're still holding onto that? What makes you think she's even alive, son!" Granny responded.

Alex raised his arm to throw a blade at the speaker, when suddenly a grapple wound around his wrist and drug him backward through the dirt! Once the dragging finally stopped, Alex looked up angrily to see Tommy staring down at him from atop a statue of one of the Furies. "You're done."

"This isn't what it looks like Grayson! This doesn't concern you, go!"

"Then what is it Alex? Because to me, it looks like you're a backstabbing asshole. And that is definitely my business."

"You don't understand Tommy! You just don't understand!" Alex pointed to the speakers through which Granny Goodness was taunting him. "That woman took _everything _from me! I finally got away from my father's abuse, and then she came along, and she killed my friends, my family, and she took my sister hostage! She needs to pay!"

"You've been planning this all along, haven't you? Manipulating us, using us as your muscle, and all the while you nudged us toward The Hole, just so you could come in and get your petty revenge." Tommy narrowed his eyes.

"I really do like you guys, and I hope you get out of here alive. But Tommy… if you try to stop me, I can guarantee that you won't."

"You were feeding information to Darkseid this whole time, weren't you? You were playing both sides, and you double crossed _everyone_."

"I'm not the spy Tommy. I never sold you guys out."

"And why should I believe that? You've lied to me about everything else!"

"I don't have time for this." Alex shook his head and turned to leave. Tommy hurled a baterang down toward him. In a flash Alex spun around and caught the weapon out of the air in a magnetic field, just inches away from his chest. "Did you really think that would work?"

"No. But I knew this would." Tommy grinned and pressed a small detonator. The baterang began to beep loudly, and Alex's eyes opened wide. He broke into a sprint and made it a few feet before the baterang exploded, blasting Alex violently through the dirt and throwing rocky shrapnel into his back. As he as getting to his feet, Tommy leapt down from the statue he was on and landed with a powerful kick on Alex's shoulder! Tommy heard bone crack and Alex cry out. The hero landed a few feet from the traitor and turned to land another blow.

Alex held out his hand and let out the strongest wave of magnetism he could muster, repelling Tommy back across the arena in a blur! His feet dug trenches in the ground as he sailed backward, and eventually the struck the stone wall with bone-shattering force, throwing up a cloud of dust around him. His vision recovered in time for him to see a barrage of Alex's small round projectile weapons sailing toward him! The hero ducked out of the way and whipped a few smoke pellets in between the two of them.

Alex looked around quickly as the thick smoke shrouded him. Soon he could hardly see his hand in front of his face. Tommy switched his helmet to thermal vision, and saw the dark red outline of his enemy. He came in a landed a punch on Alex's face, then another in his ribs, then a kick to the shins. Alex cried out and tried to swing back, but was unable to hit his shaded foe. A fist flung outwards from the smoke and went crashing into Alex's nose. His head flung backward and blood sprayed upward. In a bout of rage he spun around with a blind roundhouse kick, and caught in the midriff, throwing him onto the dirt. Tommy then rolled away from one of Alex's wrist blades, piercing into the ground right next to his head! The smoke started to clear, and Tommy threw down his helmet, allowing his hear to fall freely over his face. He stared down Alex.

Alex protruded both of his wrist blades, and charged at Tommy. Tommy pulled out his knife. One of the wrist blades was plunged toward Tommy's chest. Tommy spun out of his path and swung his knife, only to have it blocked by the second blade. They both pulled back and then lunged again. Alex quickly started to gain more ground on his opponent, and Tommy struggled to deflect all of his strikes. Tommy was being forced to back up with each blow, meeting Alex's weapons with his own. "I trusted you!"

"I know. That's what made it so damn easy." Alex taunted.

"Alex, I know what it's like! I really do!" Tommy said as he blocked another slash.

"No you don't. Don't even think for a second that you know how I feel!"

"When Dinah died, I took all the blame. I beat myself up for weeks. I know how painful it is. How heavy the guilt becomes. It's unbearable, and-"

"Shut up!" Alex slashed with his left blade and caught Tommy across the chest, drawing blood and leaving a deep gash. "Don't pretend to understand! Don't you even dare to think you know! You never even had parents! You were on your own from the start! Me… I watched my family die! I watched my own father beat my mother to death! I took my little sister and ran, and we found shelter with my grandparents. They took care of us, and kept us safe!" Another slash. "Then _she _came! Goodness and her Furies showed up and mowed down the village, killing everyone in their path! I tried to protect them, but I was weak. I watched my grandparents bleed to death, and my sister be taken captive! And I could do was sit by and watch!"

"Alex-" Tommy managed, as he struggled with all his might to hold back both of Alex's blades with his knife.

"I'm not weak anymore, and I will not let that monster live! She's going to pay for what she did to me, no matter what the cost!"

"We could have taken her down together, Alex! We could have freed all her prisoners and stopped her. But instead you're blinded by your own hatred…"

"Don't preach to me Tommy. You have no right to tell me about hatred, when you don't even know the meaning of the word."

At that moment, they were interrupted when the ground began to tremble. They both stumbled, and looked to see a platform up out of the ground. And on top of it was Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, also known as Black Mask. He looked down on them in an amused fashion. "Well, well, well. This is what become of the Wayne of a Luthor lineage… trash produced more trash."

"It's about time you showed your face." Tommy growled.

"You've made a mess of my compound here. I was put in charge of The Hole because Granny Goodness trusted in my abilities. This is quite a disgrace." Black Mask shook his head.

"Give us Allie, and we'll leave."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that. You see, I'm under strict orders to make sure you don't leave here alive."

Footsteps pounded from behind, and Tommy turned to see the whole team approaching; Jesse, Flo, Connor, Chris, and Quinton. Behind them lagged Fate and Ethan, who looked as if they were just coming down off some high from hell.

"What are you doing here?" Tommy demanded.

"Helping you. And it looks like we're just in time for the party." Flo smiled.

"No, I we went over this! You all get out of here, whether I'm with you or not!"

"Well, we were going to do that." Quinton started. "But we talked it over…"

"And we decided that if anybody's going down, we're all going down together." Jesse grinned.

"How sweet." Black Mask chuckled. "Like rats to a trap, you all come to die."

Troy came running in from the cell block, a disappointed look on his face. "Tommy, I searched every single cell. Allie is not in there."

"What?" Tommy's eyes darted to Quinton. "Are you sure you had the right cell block?"

"It said Allie Dinah Queen, Cell Block D!" Quinton insisted.

"Well she wasn't there!" Troy argued. Black Mask let out another cruel laugh.

"Did you brats really think I'd make it that easy?" The villain taunted. "I knew you were coming, so I changed things up a little bit!"

"Where is she?" Tommy demanded, clenching his fists so hard that blood soaked through his gloves. "What the hell did you do with her?"

"Don't you get it yet kid? You're too late." Black Mask gave a wicked grin. "She's mine now."

Suddenly, Allie stepped out from behind him, wearing Apokoliptian armor. Her beautiful blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her usual energetic green eyes looked cold and lifeless. She stared down at Tommy without a hint of recognition.

"Allie!" Jesse shouted and sprinted up toward her. He ran straight up the pillar she was standing on and spread out his arms to hug her. But as he came up, she kicked him hard in the face, knocking back down to the bottom with a swollen cheek. Black Mask burst out laughing.

"I've rewired her mind." He stated. "She is loyal only to Apokolips now. She doesn't even remember who you are."

"No…" Tommy stammered, a single tear running down his face as he looked up at her. "Allie… please…."

"Kill them." Black Mask instructed with a wave of his hand. Allie obediently prepared her bow, knocking an arrow, and aimed the weapon right at Tommy. Time slowed to a crawl. She took aim quickly, and prepared to fire…

In a quick blur Allie whipped to the left and fired the arrow right into Black Mask's back! It burst into a boxing glove and smashed right into the villain's spine! With a loud cry, Black Mask was rocketed off the platform and fell crashing down onto the stone ground. "What is this?" He screamed.

"It's called acting, dumbass." Allie smiled brightly and flung her hair out of the ponytail, allowing it to fall freely over her shoulders.

"Awesome." Tommy smiled. Allie jumped down from the platform and Tommy caught her safely.

"Miss me Sunshine?"

"You have no idea."

"Whoa, when did you get all _nice_?"

"Can't I be happy to see you?"

"Yeah, you just aren't supposed to show it."

"Ok then." Tommy grinned and dropped her onto the ground.

"Ha-ha." She rolled her eyes and stood up. "You would not believe what I have been through lately. I am so ready to leave."

Troy walked up next to Tommy and looked at Allie carefully. "This is her?"

"Yup." Tommy nodded.

"Man, Jesse wasn't kidding. She's hot."

"Um… _who _are you?" Allie raised an eyebrow.

"Troy Prince. I'm Tommy's brother."

"Brother?"

"It's a long story." Tommy sighed. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Black Mask wobbled to his feet angrily, and punched in a code on his wrist computer. "You aren't going anywhere!"

Suddenly a boom tube opened up, and a beautiful dark haired woman descended from it, with large angelic wings flapping behind her.

"Whoa. What'd he summon an angel?" Jesse asked wide-eyed.

"Not even close." Allie huffed.

The winged woman was followed by a group of women who most of the team recognized… the Female Furies. "Run." Allie said quickly.

"Hold on, we can fight them can't we?" Troy suggested.

"Not if you want to live." Tommy objected.

"Trust me Troy; they're a lot tougher than they look." Jesse added.

"But they look pretty tough."

"Exactly."

The winged woman looked at Tommy as if she were studying a new specimen in a laboratory. "Thomas Grayson. It's good to finally meet you."

"At least she's polite." Jesse muttered.

"Jesse, definitely not the time for a new crush." Tommy growled.

The Furies moved in to attack, when out of nowhere, a series of small missiles struck the ground between the two groups, throwing up a cloud of dust and debris! Tommy and the team looked up to see a small fleet of helicopters approaching, and standing on the skis of the one in front, was Corey Jones! Corey flew down to meet them.

"Thought you weren't coming?" Connor laughed.

"You've all definitely proven you're capable. Now it's my turn." Corey smiled. His soldiers dropped down from the helicopters firing a hail of bullets at the Furies, and the helicopters actually mowed a few of them down! The Furies began to retreat when more missiles started firing!

"Tommy, who are these people?" Allie whispered.

"Oh, we have _so _much to talk about."

"Get out of here. We'll do the rest." Corey offered.

"Thank you Corey."

"We aren't going to win this war on our own, right? Now get the hell out of here Grayson."

"Alright, everybody move!" Tommy shouted, and the team began to retreat, with the exception of Connor and Chris, who stayed with Corey.

"I left an entrance into the catacombs open right over here!" Flo shouted as they exited the arena. She pushed away some rubble to reveal a circular gateway in the floor. They all hurried into the catacombs to make their escape.

"Hold on, where's Ricochet?" Allie asked quickly, realizing his absence.

"Leave him. He isn't worth it." Tommy said grimly. They sprinted through the catacombs, and quickly found that they were being pursued by a horde of parademons. Ethan began smashing away the wooden support beams holding up the rafters on the catacombs, causing the rafters to crash down behind them and block off the parademons. He continued this as they ran. Flo kept directing them through different turns. They were almost to the end of the final tunnel, when things feel apart. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks… because standing there waiting for them, was Grayven. With an army of drones behind him.

"Last time we kicked your ass wasn't enough for you?" Tommy shouted.

"You're in no position to be making threats, punk." Grayven barked. "I have you surrounded, and vastly outnumbered." The drone army started to close in, filling up the narrow tunnel and cutting the heroes off from all hope they might have had left.

"Who is this guy?" Allie asked.

"A problem." Troy replied.

"There's nowhere for you to run this time around." Grayven taunted. "No tricks for you to pull, no miracles to make. You're just dead."

"Hey Tommy, we're right beneath the armory right now, right?" Jesse whispered.

"I think so. Why?"

"Just an idea." Jesse said as he pulled out Ricochet's EMP gauntlet.

"You stole that?"

"He deserved it!"

"I agree. How does it help us?"

"Because on a low setting, I'm thinking it'll deactivate some signal locks." Jesse smiled and pointed the gauntlet upward, firing the blast up through the ceiling.

"What do you think you're doing?" Grayven demanded.

Fate pulled out the bomb detonator, and moved to press the button. Jesse threw his arms up in the air. "Adios mutha' fu-" That was when the explosion happened! The armory above them burst into flames, and the explosion caved in the ceiling of the catacombs! The debris blasted down and crushed Grayven and his army in seconds! Fate put up a force field around them, keeping them safe until the smoke cleared.

"What the hell just happened?" Troy laughed.

"Our screw up wound up saving our lives." Jesse laughed. Fate put the force field down, and the team continued on across the rubble to the Aquaship, waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. Everyone boarded the ship, and Flo headed to the pilots room. They took off toward the sky, ready to celebrate their victory.

**A/N I wanted to show a bit more of their reunion in this chapter, but figured I should end it here. The next chapter will probably a short little celebration one establishing everything that happened, and we finally learn all about this mysterious Kryptonian…**

**Also, don't think this is the end of the traitor conspiracy, or the end of Alex for that matter. Things only go further from here! **


	14. Training

**Here it is everybody! I finally explain everything about the mysterious Kryptonian in this chapter, but I feel like its kind of confusing… partly because I made most of it up as I went along. So bear with me on that. This chapter is mostly dialogue, and is dedicated to the friendships and tensions that are becoming solid among the team.**

Chapter Fourteen: Target Practice

Leaving The Hole's airspace wasn't as easy as anyone had hoped. Turrets on the roofs of the complex fired a barrage of large, bizarre looking robots. The front of the robots looked like demonic piranhas, and their jaws, outfitted with razor sharp steel teeth, snapped open and closed rapidly. The back ends of the robots were basically missiles, with flame erupting from the back, propelling the vicious robots quickly through the air.

"What are those?" Jesse asked frantically.

"War Sharks." Ethan grimaced.

The War Sharks quickly caught up to the Aquaship and sank their teeth deep into the exterior! The wings and other parts of the body were shredded by the rapidly slicing fangs. Then, after a few minutes of eating into the steel, the War Sharks detonated! The explosions were each relatively small, but numerous and powerful. The entire ship rocked violently, holes were blown in all the walls, and lights died.

"This is bad!" Flo screamed from the cockpit. "They just took out the main battery, and destroyed the wings and rotors! I won't be able to keep this thing in the air very long!"

The smoke was thick inside the ship, choking the team. "Fate, get a force field up around us!"

"Alright…" Fate held out her hands and tried to cast the spell, but the rocking of the ship made it difficult to focus. For a moment, a force field appeared around the ship. And then it collapsed in, smashing the flying sub with a wave of pure force, rocking it even more!

"Fate, what the hell are you doing?" Ethan shouted.

"I'm sorry-"

Then the ship was hit by another wave of War Sharks, splitting a chunk of floor, and Allie fell straight through! They were over the ocean now, and Allie shrieked, falling toward the water at a blinding speed. Without a second thought, Tommy leapt down after her. No way I'm losing her now, not after everything we just went through! He thought. He went into a nose-dive and quickly caught up to Allie. He reached out his hand, pushing hard against the rushing air, and grabbed onto hers. Then he spun around and with his free hand, launched a grapple up toward the sky, hoping that it would latch onto something.

Then, as the grapple soared upward, Allie crashed into the water. Before Tommy could hit the waters, the grapple latched onto a moving War Shark, and ripped him back up through the air. Allie came splashing out with him, and the War Shark pulled them through the air at several hundred miles an hour. They pulled up to the War Shark, at Tommy quickly kicked off of it, jumping back toward the Aquaship. He nearly missed the hatch, when Jesse reached out and caught his free hand. The speedster them struggled for a moment to pull Tommy up, while he pulled Allie up. She was soaking wet, and shivering.

"I can't keep this thing in the air any longer guys!" Flo shouted.

"There's an island up ahead!" Quinton shouted back.

The ship dipped downward and started to tumble out of the sky. Everyone grabbed the walls and braced for impact. It hit the water first, and Flo managed to make it glide across the ocean surface, until finally it slammed into the beach. There was a violent jerk, and the ship pressed through the sand like a meteor, throwing up a choking shroud of dust. After almost five minutes, the shaking slowed down, and the ship rolled onto its side.

The team took a minute to recover and catch their breath. "Everybody alive?" Tommy asked. The group all responded with an uneasy 'yes.' The eight carefully stepped out of the ship, and onto the ruined beach of the small island.

"Think this place is inhabited?" Troy asked, looking around the island's desolate surface.

"Probably not. But it will be as soon as Darkseid's boys find out we're here." Ethan said.

"Flo, how long will it take for the ship to repair itself?" Tommy questioned.

"From this damage?' Flo frowned. "At least four weeks. And that's being optimistic."

"We definitely can't stay here four weeks. Is there any way you could speed that up?"

"Not really. Not without the Atlantean tech needed for repairing it."

"Maybe we could build a big raft or something?" Jesse suggested.

"And get blown to pieces the second we're on the water?" Ethan scoffed.

"He's right; we'd never survive on a raft." Troy sighed. "Maybe you should call Corey. He's probably got boats stashed away somewhere."

"Can't, the communicator broke during the crash." Tommy sighed, pulling the broken piece of technology from his pocket.

"I could probably repair that with some circuitry from the ship." Quinton suggested.

"See what you can do, Q." Tommy tossed him the communicator, and he headed off to the ruined ship to find parts he could use. Flo followed him.

"Hey guys, I think something's wrong with Allie!" Fate shouted. Tommy turned to see the blond haired girl lying in the dirt, shivering. Her face was pale, and her lips and fingers were blue…

"Hypothermia." Troy said quickly.

"Ah crap… Allie hit the water before I caught her, that combined with the rushing air on the grapple must have done it…" Tommy groaned, and helped Allie up off the dirt. She was trying to speak, but was shaking too hard. Tommy removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. Then he looked to the others. "Ethan and Troy go and find firewood. We're obviously going to be here overnight, plus Allie needs heat. Jesse and Fate, see if you two can find food. I don't want to risk fishing in these waters if we don't have to."

"Got it." Troy nodded, and he and Ethan headed off into the woods. Fate and Jesse went too, albeit reluctantly. Tommy sat Allie down against a large rock, and sat down next to her. He held her tightly, doing his best to try and warm her up.

"It's going to be alright Allie."

"S-s-s – stop being – mushy." She said through her chattering.

"There's no way I'm letting you die after I went through all that work to get you back."

They sat in awkward silence for a long time, Allie shivering and Tommy trying to make her warm. Jesse came zooming over a few minutes later, a bundle of twigs in one arm, and a purse in the other. "I found some crap out in the forest and brought it over here. It isn't much, but the others are still looking." He threw the twigs down and rubbed his hands together at super speed, building up heavy friction, until the heat was enough to set the twigs on fire. It was a small fire, but Tommy and Allie got as close as they could to the warmth.

"Nice purse Jess." Tommy said.

"Shut up, it's Fate's." Jesse grumbled. "I found a coconut and threw it in there."

"A coconut?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you know, big brown thing that grows on trees? I found this one on the ground, I think it's pretty old, but it's better than nothing." Jesse pulled out a large brown orb from the purse. A beetle crawled across it. "Damn, these bugs just won't stay away from it!" He shouted, flicking the beetle off.

Allie put two and two together, and laughed through the shivering. Tommy caught on too, and had to smile. "Jesse, that was a dung beetle man."

'What's that mean?"

"That isn't a coconut dude, it's a dung ball."

Jesse's eyes opened wide and he threw it across the beach. "Well I'm glad I didn't eat it!" Allie was still shivering, and Tommy moved her closer to the fire.

"Don't worry Allie. We'll get you warm."

"Hey, since you guys are all huddled up for story time, there's something I need to tell you." Jesse said seriously. "About my sister."

"What about her?" Tommy asked. He didn't care to hear it all that much, but he wanted something to distract Allie from the cold, so he decided to encourage Jesse's story.

"Alright. Her name was Jessica…" Jesse pulled out his locket, and flipped it open to the family picture he kept. He pointed to her in the picture, a pretty girl with fiery amber hair and bright green eyes. "During the invasion, my dad, Wally West… he was one of the last heroes standing, he made it a long time through the war. But not forever. Apokolips used my older brother Jai as bait, to lure my dad into a trap… and they both got killed."

"Ok." Tommy nodded.

"My mom died too, they refused to let anybody live. Jessica and I barely escaped, and we survived on our own for quite a while. Then, one day… one day I really screwed up. I stole a gun from a soldier, figuring I'd be able to make a lot of money off it, but it turns out that the gun was tagged. They used it to track me, and they found Jessica and I inside an abandoned subway tunnel. They surrounded us from both sides. Jessica, she was a better fighter than me… she cleared a path, but then they got her. I was running ahead, and I watched this parademon grab her… I listened to her scream for my help, but… I was too afraid. I never turned back for her, I just kept on running. I escaped, and I heard the tunnel collapse behind me." Jesse choked up, tears running down his face. "I let my sister die, because I was too scared to help her."

"Jesse…" Tommy started, but paused, having no idea how to approach the subject. He decided to just go and say what Allie would have said, if she were able to talk at the moment. "It wasn't your fault Jesse."

"Yes it was!" His teary eyes darted up. "I led them right to us, and then she counted on me to help her, she screamed for my help Tommy! But I was so scared…"

"If you had gone back to help her, you'd both be dead, and that wouldn't have done any good at all." Tommy reasoned. "At least now you can make a difference, you can avenge her."

"I wanted to avenge her I would have stayed behind and let myself get torn apart." Jesse grumbled. "I, um… I don't know. I guess I just thought you guys should know." He got to his feet, and zoomed off to continue helping Fate.

"You've changed a lot" Allie said in a low voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"A month ago, you would have told Jesse that it's all in the past and he should shut up and forget about it." She smiled a bit. "But now, you just tried to actually comfort him. In your own uncomfortable way, sure, but at least you tried."

"I guess." Tommy sighed. "It's the whole leadership thing. I'm finally starting to figure it out, everybody works best under different situations. Like, Jesse has low self-esteem, so you need to boost him up with some positive reinforcement. Then there's Troy, he thinks pretty highly of himself, so with him, you have to be harsh or you won't get much of a response. It's just that sort of thing, everybody responds differently to different types of leadership, and I'm starting to figure it all out."

"What do I respond to?" She asked tiredly.

"Emotion." Tommy said quickly. "You're very empathetic, if a person puts out emotion, you'll respond to it accordingly. Quinton, he responds to logic. You have to explain the reasoning behind your orders, and then Q will work well. Ethan, with him it's all about options. If Ethan feels like you're giving him orders, he turns rebellious. You have to make it seem like your giving him suggestions instead of orders, let him feel like it's his choice, and he'll usually do what you ask. And Flo, she's all about the tough love. She likes to ignore the reality of things and make it all seem less bad than it really is. I find that I have to be kind of hard on her, make her accept things how they are, and she'll perform well."

"Wow. Do you sit an analyze everybody, or does that just come naturally to you?"

"A little bit of both. Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah, warmer than I was, definitely. So… what's the deal with Troy? I've pretty much got Ethan and Fate figured out already, but Troy… he seems complicated."

"One of my two half-fathers was his father, and his mother was the sister of mine. We have no idea what to call that, so we just decided to call ourselves brothers. Troy is very… well, like you said, complicated. He's very smart, but that intelligence actually depresses him. He understands everything almost too well, to the point where he really can't see much hope in anything. He covers it up with his nonchalant attitude toward everything; I think it's easier for him to deal with things if he can convince himself he doesn't care."

"Ok, you need to stop this Tommy." Allie said with a grin.

"Stop what?"

"Stop being so understanding of everybody. That's _my _job."

"Well once you're back on your feet, I'll be happy to let you get back to it. I prefer being the solitary hard ass." Tommy grinned back.

"Good, that's just the way I like you." Allie laughed. "Although, I don't mind you actually being able to carry on a conversation now and then. That change can stay."

"Don't count on it."

**(In the Woods – Same Time)**

Troy and Ethan had found a few dead trees lying around, and Troy quickly took his sword to cut the wood into movable pieces. Ethan was releasing small but hot waves of static onto the wood, trying to evaporate all the moisture so that it would burn better.

"You don't talk much do you?" Troy asked, swinging down on another piece of wood.

"I don't have much to say."

"But you have a lot on your mind."

"What makes you say that?" Ethan inquired as he continued his work.

"I don't know, you just always seem to be thinking." Troy shrugged. "Like right now."

"Yeah."

"Anything you want to get off your chest while we're out here alone?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Nope."

"Sure?"

"Why do you care?"

"Just looking for a way to fight off the impeding boredom coma."

"Huh…" Ethan sighed. "I'm not sure Alex was the traitor."

"What? Dude, he shot you in the back and stuck you to a wall!"

"Yeah, he was definitely _a _traitor. I just don't think he was _the _traitor. Like, I don't think he was the one feeding info to Grayven."

"Why not?"

"Well, what would he have to gain from it? His goal was just to kill Granny Goodness, right? So why would it benefit him at all to be Grayven's informant?"

"I see your point there." Troy nodded. "So who do you think _is _the traitor?"

"You want my honest answer?"

"Yeah."

"You."

There was a long pause. Finally, Troy spoke calmly, "Me? You think it's me?"

"Yes. That would explain why we were sent to Warworld instead of just getting executed. We picked up a spy. I think Apokolips planned for us to escape Warworld the whole time, and they planned for us to leave with an informant. You."

"Interesting idea but-"

"I'm not done. You say you were in Warworld since you were a little kid, but if that's the case, how the hell are you alive? You're tough, but I doubt you seriously went around beating up four-armed steroid aliens when you were nine!"

"They didn't put me into fights until they knew I was old enough to put on a good show."

"So Warworld has a nursery? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Dubbilex took care of me."

"The psychic goat dude raised you?"

"Yes."

"Whatever. The point is, I don't trust you. You're… too perfect. You've got everyone convinced that you're such a great, kind, sensible guy, and I don't buy it."

"Well I'm glad we had _this _little talk." Troy muttered. He grabbed up a bundle of firewood, and headed off. "I'm bringing this to Tommy."

"Probably gonna' stop and report to Darkseid first." Ethan said under his breath.

"Hey, Ethan…" Troy said suddenly, and turned around to face his teammate. "I'd be careful what I say if I were you. After all, who is Tommy going to side with? His own brother… or a black energizer bunny with a temper?"

"What did you just say?" Ethan narrowed his eyes.

"Think about it, ok Ethan? I'd hate to see you do something stupid." Troy grinned, and then continued off into the woods.

**(Near a Small Stream – Same Time)**

Jesse and Fate had found a small reservoir of water, and knew that where there was water, there would be growth. They searched the banks of the stream and sure enough, found wild strawberries growing. "These aren't much, but it'll keep everybody alive for a bit." Jesse said, and moved into pick them.

"Hold on." Fate stopped him. "I think I can make more." She closed her eyes, held out her hand, and uttered a phrase in Latin. For a second, the strawberry plants began to rapidly grow, and produce bigger fruit in large quantities. Then Fate's concentration faltered, and the plants burst into flames!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jesse shouted and started splashing water onto the burning plants, but it was too late. The strawberries were now virtually nonexistent. "Are you kidding me? What – the hell was that?"

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Fate fell to her knees. "That was so not supposed to happen!"

"_Sorry? _You just burned the only food we could find!"Jesse screamed. Then he looked to Fate, and immediately felt bad when he saw the tears splashing onto the ground. "Come on, don't cry! That's making it really hard to keep yelling at you!"

"I'm useless!" She pulled on her hair and sat along the side of the stream. "I haven't done one single thing right today."

"Yeah, that's actually true." Jesse nodded. She shot him a glare and he said, "What? I'm not going to lie just to make you feel better."

"I know." She sighed and buried her face in her knees. "I hate my powers!"

"I know how you feel." Jesse sat down next to her.

"How?"

"Well, I know what it's like to screw everything up. You know, if it weren't for my stupidity, then parademons wouldn't have attacked us the first night I met Tommy. So in a way, I kind of started this whole mess we're in now."

"I just… it feels like everything is always against me, you know?" Fate looked up at him.

"Yeah. I get it." He nodded. "But hey, there's a reason for everything right? Maybe something good will come of this."

"I wish I could believe that. I just don't buy the whole 'destiny' thing. The monks were always telling me that it's all planned out, from the cradle to the grave. But if that's true, the person making those plans must really hate me."

"Wow, you don't believe in destiny?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Well it's just… you magic types are normally into that crap. Plus your name is Fate, so…"

"Actually that's just my middle name to be honest. I don't use my first name much because it's kind of embarrassing."

"What is it?"

"Promise you won't tell anybody?"

"Sure."

"Ok, my real name is… Zattina."

After a moment of silence, Jesse started laughing obnoxiously. "Zattina? Are you serious?"

"Well my mom's name was Zattana! It's kind of a family thing."

"Ok, ok… Zattina. Believe it or not, it's better than my middle name." Jesse shrugged.

"What is it?"

"Its… its Skipper." As soon as Jesse said this, Fate burst out laughing.

"Hold on, so you're Jesse Skipper West?"

"Yeah, my dad thought it was funny." Jesse folded his arms.

"Interesting." Fate smiled. "Well… should we get back to the others and tell them how I charred our berries?"

"Yeah, it's getting pretty dark." Jesse agreed. "And hey, its not that bad… I picked up a coconut shit-ball."

"What?"

"Never mind."

They both stood up and stretched. "I'm just dreading the moment when I have to explain to everybody how I can't control my own powers." Fate said grimly.

"Well… we could practice." Jesse suggested.

"Practice how?"

"I don't know, what do you have trouble with the most? I'll think of something."

"I'm pretty bad at levitating things. I usually blow them up or something."

"Then we'll start there!" Jesse clapped his hands enthusiastically. Then without warning, he picked up a rock, and threw it at her. The rock hit Fate in the head, and knocked her flat on the ground.

"Jesse! What the hell are you doing?"

"You were supposed to stop it before it hit you!" Jesse shouted.

"You could have given a warning first!"

"Then it wouldn't have been a reflex. You need to get used to reacting quickly, parademons won't give you a warning." The speedster reasoned.

"Alright… throw it again."

"Got it." Jesse whipped the rock at her again. She flinched, but this time the rock stopped in mid air, and she held it there with her magic.

"I caught it!"

"There you go. Now let's practice controlling it." Jesse suggested.

"How?"

"Try to hit me with it."

"With the rock?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Fate, I could dodge those things with my hands behind my back." Jesse grinned. "In fact, I will." Jesse pulled off his jacket quickly, and used it to tie up his own hands behind his back! "Ok, give it your best shot Fate!"

She focused a moment, and then launched the rock forward. Jesse dodged in a blur, with total ease. "See? Told you I could-" Suddenly a second rock flew into his head, knocking him on the ground. "What the heck was that for?" He shouted.

"You have to get used to reacting quickly." Fate said with a smile.

"Ha-ha." Jesse got to his feet. "Let's keep this going. Give me your best shot." As soon as Jesse said this, four more rocks flew his way! He dodged three of them, the other hit him in the stomach! Then one got him in the shoulder, and he backed up. "Hey, slow down a minute I-" Then a rock flew into his groin, and he let out a loud, sharp cry and fell on his knees. More rocks sailed his way, and Fate laughed.

**(Other side of the Stream)**

Troy was carrying the bundle of wood toward the camp site, and stopped in his tracks when he saw something bizarre in front of him. On the other side of a small stream, Jesse stood with his hands behind his back, while Fate blasted him with a hail of rocks. "What?" Troy laughed quietly and edged behind a tree. He watched this strange scene with a lot of amusement.

He saw Jesse take a groin shot, and stifled another laugh. The onslaught lasted a few more seconds, before suddenly a rock stopped in the air, and started to glow brightly. Fate looked horrified and yelled, "Jesse get back!" And as she and Jesse hit the ground, the rock exploded, and left a smoldering hole in the ground!

"Oh thank God." Jesse moaned. "I don't think I could take another stomach hit."

"Are you ok?" Fate yelled to him.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. I lost my baby-making privileges, but I was probably never going to use those anyway." Jesse grunted as he struggled onto his feet. "You did pretty well though."

"No I didn't, I turned a rock into freakin' C4!" Fate looked down at her feet.

"Well, I mean before that." Jesse walked toward her. "You'll get better, we just need practice. I promise you'll get better soon."

"I hope so."

"I know so. Now, could you please untie my hands? I think I may be bleeding from my testicles, and I really need to check." Jesse said uncomfortably.

"I'm really sorry about that." Fate said, and moved to untie his hands.

Troy backed up behind the tree, still chuckling. But a serious look flashed into his eyes. "So Fate can't control her powers. That's an interesting little twist…"

**(Back at the campsite – One Hour Later)**

Everyone had gathered. Allie had pretty much recovered, and she, Tommy, Quinton, Flo, Troy, Ethan, Jesse and Fate sat in a circle around the fire. "So how long have you and Quinton been together?" Allie whispered to Flo.

"What?" Flo said innocently. "Why would you think we're together?"

"Nice try, but last time I checked, Quinton doesn't wear lipstick." Allie smiled, and Flo looked over to see that Q had red smeared around his lips.

"Alright, yeah." Flo whispered. "Don't tell anybody, ok? We're waiting for the right time to drop that bomb on everybody."

"Got it." Allie smiled and pulled away from their hushed conversation.

"Hey Q, do you think you'll be able to fix that communicator?" Tommy asked.

"Well, it's iffy." Quinton sighed. "Most of the circuitry I picked up from the sub was heavily damaged. I might be able to make it work, but it'll be a few days at least before I can say for sure. I have a lot of tinkering to do."

"Do what you can. You might be our only way out of here. We definitely can't sit around for four weeks while the ship recovers, especially with what little food we have." Tommy reasoned.

"Hey Jesse, how did you get so bruised up dude?" Troy asked innocently, looking to the speedster.

"Oh. I um… fell down a river bank." Jesse responded.

"Really? The river bank I saw was pretty small. I certainly don't think it'd do that." Troy said.

"Well, I fell a couple times." Jesse laughed. He had promised Fate he wouldn't tell anyone about her lack of control, so he had to lie.

"Oh." Troy leaned back next to Tommy. "That's weird, considering your shoes are built for traction and everything…" He continued.

"I fell, ok? What's your deal?" Jesse demanded.

"I just want you to tell me the truth Jesse. After all, trust is very important." Troy said, and looked directly at Ethan while he said it. Ethan glared at him, and then looked back toward the fire.

"We should set up a shelter of some kind. We can't just sit out here in the open all night." Tommy said while he stoked the fire.

"I'm sure Fate can take care of that. Can't you Fate?" Troy asked loudly.

"Um… I don't know about that." She said sheepishly.

"Why not? With your powers, it should be no trouble for you to move a little earth and build us a shelter." Troy leaned forward and smiled at her. "After all, it's not like it's going to _blow up _or anything, right?"

"Stop it Troy." Jesse barked, looking him in the eye. "I don't know who you think you are, but I have a feeling it's not who _we _think are you."

"What's going on with you guys?" Tommy asked.

"Nothing. Right Jesse?" Troy asked calmly.

"Yeah. Nothing." Jesse nodded, but kept his eyes locked on Troy.

"So I guess the whole Kryptonian thing was a bust." Flo said, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, The Hole turned into such a mess that I forgot about the Kryptonian!" Jesse agreed.

"Oh, I can't believe I forgot to tell you this!" Quinton said abruptly. He jumped forward and pulled Tommy's video journal out of his pocket.

"You took my journal?" Tommy shouted.

"I needed it." Quinton said, and then turned the device on. "You see, while I was inside the database looking at all the inmates, I plugged this into the computer and downloaded all of the files onto it, in case I had to get out quickly. Which I did."

"Ok, go on." Tommy nodded.

"So I saved everything in that database on this journal, and earlier I was looking through it, and I _did _find something on the Kryptonian!"

"What is it?" Flo asked, jumping up to look at the screen.

"It says here that his name was Cody Kent. But here's the catch, he was not Superman's son!"

"Then who was he?"

"Supergirl's. That's why there no children other children on record for Superman, he didn't have any other children! But his cousin Kara Kent did."

"Hold on, who was the father?" Fate asked.

"That's the thing, no one actually knows. You see, Kara eventually traveled to the future, where she chose to stay because she fell in love with the future Braniac. But while in the future, she came across a child with Kryptonian powers, locked up in an old Cadmus base, cryogenically frozen. She unfroze the child and read up on some files, and learned that he was actually her son! The father, however, was someone who she would later have met, had she stayed in the present. She didn't know the man in this time. So this child simply took her last name, but here's the catch; he was fading out of reality, because Kara didn't stay in her own time, and therefore the child never would have been born."

"So he doesn't exist?" Tommy inquired.

"Hold on, I'm getting to that. To save the child's life, she sent him back into the present to find his father, and Braniac put him on a time-loop using future technology… I won't get into it all, but basically he could survive in the present. And of course during The Invasion, he was taken captive."

"So he's being held at The Hole?" Flo asked.

"No. He used to be held at The Hole, but they found him impossible to control. They were going to kill him, but Darkseid wanted to be able to use him as bait, should the need ever arise. So instead, they took him to a Cadmus facility, and re-froze him in his stasis chamber! He's been there for years!" Quinton concluded.

"Ok, so where is this facility?" Troy asked.

"Well, that's the interesting part. You see, in the invasion they devastated everything. Only one Cadmus building was left even somewhat operational… and it just happens to be the very same building that Corey is currently using for a base!"

"Are you serious?" Tommy gasped.

"Absolutely."

"So do you think Corey has already found the kid then?" Allie asked.

"Doubt it. You see, it'd be in the lower basement, which is well hidden. I doubt Corey even knows it's there."

"Well that's all the more reason to get that communicator fixed." Tommy said.

"I know. I'll work on that." Quinton nodded.

"So now we know where the Kryptonian is. We have Allie back. And we got rid of Alex, our traitor. Things are looking pretty good, except that we're trapped on a deserted island." Jesse smiled.

"Yes they are." Troy nodded.

"Guys, something's coming!" Flo shouted. Everyone quickly looked out to the sea, and saw a large gray colored vessel sailing toward the island.

"What is that?" Allie asked.

"I don't know, that's definitely not an Apokoliptian ship." Ethan answered.

"It's not one of Corey's either, he wouldn't be able to hide anything that big." Troy said.

"So who's coming our way?" Jesse asked frantically.

"Not sure." Tommy stepped forward and drew his knife. "But be ready to fight it."


	15. Gorilla Tactics

**I just couldn't wait to get this update posted; I've been really hyped over this story lately. I've decided to put up a new poll about Breaking Free every couple chapters, just because I feel like it, so you can check that out on my profile if you're interested.**

Chapter Fifteen: Gorilla Tactics

Tommy stood in front of the team with his knife ready. Allie was to his left arming her bow, and Troy was on the right with his sword drawn. Quinton had already scanned the beach and formulated battle strategies, while Flo armed herself with her swords. Jesse clenched his fists, Ethan charged up to full power, and Fate did her best to gain some concentration.

The mysterious gray vessel approached the island rapidly, until it finally crashed against the rocky shoreline. A large hatch opened, and several large shadows loomed outward. An armada of shadows.

"Tommy, I'm starting to think combat might not be the best idea here." Troy whispered.

"He's got a point Tommy. We don't even know what we're up against, and it looks like there are a lot of them." Allie agreed quietly.

"I know. It's too late for a retreat though, they're bound to see us…"

"Fate can take care of that!" Jesse chimed in.

"Jesse-" She started to object, but he cut her off.

"Come on; cloak us just like you did at The Hole."

"It was just the two of us then, cloaking all eight of us is going to take more concentration!" She whispered to him harshly. "What if I mess up? What if-"

"Fate, shut up." Jesse said with a grin. "Stop talking, and have some confidence in yourself. You can do it, I promise."

"Ok." She nodded with an unconfident sigh. She closed her eyes and quickly cast out a wave of magic and braced for anything that might go wrong… but nothing did. She waited a moment to say for certain, and then smiled. "We're cloaked."

"Alright, retreat, fast!" Tommy ordered quietly, and the group took off into the woods. Once they were well covered in the brush, Tommy stopped to look at what had arrived. And his eyes opened wide at what he saw. Villains… as in, old-timey villains, from his parent's days! He recognized most of them from the combat simulators in the Justice Cave.

There were twelve of them in all; Black Manta, Dr. Light, Parasite, Cheetah, Shadow Thief, Deadshot, The General, Bizarro, Clayface, Riot, Solomon Grundy, and Amazo.

"Allie, Q, you guys recognize them?" Tommy whispered.

"Oh yeah." Allie nodded.

"Unfortunately yes." Quinton agreed.

Then, from the back of the large ship, came Gorilla Grodd. He was missing an eye, his chest was riddled in scars, and one of his arms had been replaced with a cybernetic limb. He had definitely seen better days. Wrapped around his real arm was a girl, tall with purple hair and a black tattoo on her chest, wearing a skimpy black dress.

"Who is _that_?" Jesse gaped.

"Her name's Tala. Stay away from her." Quinton warned.

"Wait, are these guys who I think they are?" Troy whispered hoarsely.

"Yup. Their some of the villains who our parents fought." Tommy nodded.

"But what are they doing here? What are they even doing alive?"

"Good question."

"Maybe they allied themselves with Apokolips during the invasion?" Jesse suggested.

"I don't think so. Most of them aren't the type to do that, especially not Grodd. Not long term, anyway." Quinton interjected.

"Hold on a second…" Allie whispered, and then let out a small, inaudible sonic scream. Then she manipulated the sonics through the air, using the new skills she had learned in The Hole, and was eventually in control of the sound in the area! She manipulated the sound from the villain's conversation and expanded it over to their area, allowing them to eavesdrop on just what the criminals were saying.

"I can't believe I've been reduced to this. Hiding around on some stupid island in the middle of nowhere." Deadshot said bitterly.

"It isn't that bad. Lots of privacy." The Shadow Thief said.

"Why don't you just keep your opinions to yourself, Gilligan?" Clayface scoffed.

"Oh why don't you all stop your blathering, at least you're alive, and you owe that to me!" Gorilla Grodd shouted.

"But we not is going to be here too longer, right boss?" Bizarro asked hopefully.

"Not if my plan works, Bizarro old buy." Grodd smiled. "Tala, bring out our guest will you?"

"With pleasure." Tala waved her hand, and a figure floated out of the ship… a young man. He was bound by purple rings of magic energy, and he looked unconscious. As he as levitated out onto the beach, Tommy slowly began to recognize him. And a pit formed in his stomach.

"Oh God… is that…?"

"Alex Luthor." Troy nodded.

"Wait, so do you think he sided with them or something?" Jesse asked.

"Don't think so. From the looks of it, I think they went out and captured Alex." Allie said unsteadily.

Tala dispersed the energy rings, allowing Alex to fall painfully onto the ground. Grodd then kicked him awake. Alex rolled over, and Tommy saw his face… it was covered in blood. It looked as if Alex had been beaten for hours.

"Get up, you groveling waste of space." Grodd growled. Alex got to his feet slowly, wobbling and holding his arm as if it were broken. But he stared down his captor with what almost looked like confidence.

"Grodd… the second we're alone… I'm going to rip off your other arm, and beat you to death with it." He spit. Grodd gave a wave of his hand, and in a blur, Bizarro punched Alex back onto the ground.

"I'd watch the mouth kid. We've already beaten you once today. You're just lucky we need you for something." The gorilla warned.

"If you're looking for a sex slave, I'm killing myself." Alex grinned, then he looked to Tala. "Oh, who am I kidding? You already have one of those."

"Mouthy little prick!" Tala shouted, and kicked Alex in the jaw. More blood splattered onto the sand.

"Grundy, take our new friend with us. He has much to see." Grodd smiled.

The giant Solomon Grundy leaned down and slung Alex over his shoulder, barely conscious. The group of villains then began moving out toward the woods in the opposite direction of the heroes. As they walked, Cheetah suddenly stopped in her tracks and started to sniff the air.

"What is it?" Dr. Light demanded.

"I smell something odd, like other people were here." She said suspiciously.

"You're being paranoid. It's probably just from the last time we were out here." The General said.

"Ooh, you're one to talk about paranoia General!" Riot screeched. "Didn't you get your powers in the first place because you didn't trust superhumans?"

"Yes. And now I'm forced to work with them." General muttered.

"Tell me again why this lunatic is on our team?" Deadshot groaned, pointing to Riot.

"Because his cloning capabilities make him a valuable asset." Amazo said like it were a science that he had studied.

"An asset to what? We haven't even done anything in over a decade!" Deadshot spat.

"I have to agree. All we've actually done is hide for sixteen years, Grodd." Black Manta stated.

"That's all about to change, my colleagues." Grodd smiled. "Now we have what we need." He looked directly to Alex. "We have the key to Lex Luthor's final project."

After that, the villains were gone, disappeared into the brush. The young heroes waited a few moments, then stepped back out onto the beach, stunned. The cloaking spell wore off, and everyone shot each other uneasy glances.

"Just our luck. Of course out of every single island in the frickin' ocean, we land on the one populated by super villains!" Jesse shouted.

"They must be refugees or something. They've probably been in hiding ever since Apokolips took over." Tommy said.

"Yeah, but what do they want with Alex?" Troy inquired.

"Grodd said he was the key to Luthor's final project. I'll be there's something to be found on this island." Quinton said with an interested tone.

"Well then, I say we check it out." Tommy took a step forward. "You guys with me?"

"We definitely can't take them on right now. Especially not all at once." Troy reasoned.

"It'll be a stealth mission." Tommy agreed. Then he looked to Jesse. "Maybe you shouldn't come."

"What? Why not?" Jesse exclaimed.

"Remember when we tried to be stealthy on Themyscira? And you tripped one of Deathstroke's traps like, right away?" Allie smiled.

"Or when we tried to be stealthy planting those bombs in The Hole, and you decided to stand there and moon the guards?" Fate added.

"Come on, those were both flukes! I can do this, I promise!" Jesse insisted.

"Fine. But you mess one thing up, and we're leaving you alone to fight all of them. Got it?" Tommy said bluntly.

"Loud and clear." Jesse nodded.

"Well if we don't want to get caught, we're going to have to move the Aquaship." Flo said quickly. "It's sitting along the other side of the beach, kind of in plain sight."

"Ok, Flo and Jesse can get there the fastest. Go and get the ship somewhere where they won't find it, then report back immediately. The rest of us will go out and set some traps in the woods, and be ready to move out at night. Once it gets dark, we begin."

"I'd like to go with Flo and Jesse." Quinton said quickly. "You know, to make sure I didn't miss anything we can use to fix this communicator."

"Ok, fine. But like I said report back immediately. I don't want us getting too separated this time around." Tommy instructed.

Flo then dove into the waters alongside the beach, and swam off like a bullet through the water toward her ship. Jesse looked to Quinton awkwardly. "Piggyback ride?"

"Never speak of it to anyone."

"Oh, hell no." Then Quinton climbed onto Jesse's back, and he took off in a blaze of super speed. Meanwhile, the others headed carefully into the woods, preparing for battle.

**(Aquaship – Five Minutes Later)**

Black Manta was headed toward the water, where he could clear his head. But when he reached the cliff overlooking the beach, he saw something odd on top of the dunes. A large, brown colored Atlantean submarine, blown up and torn to pieces. "This is intriguing." He said to himself, and moved down toward the ship. He ran his gloved hand across the cool metal surface, and his mind began to trail off to his old nemesis, Aquaman. "It couldn't be. I watched that bastard die."

"I know, I was there." An angry feminine voice said from behind. He began to turn and face he girl, when a solid-water rope tied itself around his throat, and he was pulled directly into a powerful punch by a small girl! Black Manta tumbled into the dirt, and stared up at the silvery haired girl. Her watery blue eyes carried the essence of something powerful, something he had only seen once before… Aquaman.

"What the hell are you?" Manta barked.

"That 'bastard' who you watched die? I'm his daughter, jerk!" Flo yelled. She threw out her foot and kicked Manta in the ribs, launching him into what was left of the Aquaship's metal walls, planting a dent in the charred steel.

"That was kind of hot." Quinton said as he stepped up next to Flo with his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks. It felt good."

"Daughter?" Black Manta growled. Then he broke into a sadistic chuckle. "Daughter! I knew I had missed something, when I watched Atlantis crumble to the ground!" He flung out his arm and blades sprung from his gauntlet. A stream of electricity appeared between the blades, forming a ball of energy, and in an instant a wave of energy fired out toward Flo!

Quinton jumped in the way of her and used his Atlantean gauntlet to make a hard-water shield, blocking the blast. The force of the hit still plowed Quinton through the dirt however, and the pure jolt sent a throbbing ache into his shoulders. Flo drew her swords and charged at Manta. He took his other hand and withdrew a retractable black trident, blocking the slash. He quickly spun around and smacked Flo in the side of the head with the butt of the weapon, knocking her to the ground, and then blasted her in the back with a surge of electrical energy, putting her down. "Pathetic, even for your bloodline." Manta taunted, and raised up the trident to impale her!

At that moment, a blue and yellow blur soared in, and struck Manta in the side, knocking the villain through the dirt! Jesse materialized where the criminal had been standing, suited up in his costume. "Not on my watch!" He shouted heroically.

"Seriously? You waited _that _long to make your big intro, and the best line you could come up with was 'not on my watch'?" Quinton mocked.

"I'm in a rut, ok? Leave me alone." Jesse shrugged.

"A speedster too? Looks like Apokolips was sloppy when they went to round up the runts." Manta grumbled. Quinton helped Flo to her feet, but the shock had damaged her nervous system, and she could barely stand.

"Are you going to be alright?" Q asked her.

"Q…"

"Yeah?"

"Kick his ass for me."

"Happily."

Black Manta raised a communicator from his belt to call Grodd, but in a blur Jesse snatched the device from his hand and tossed it across the dunes. "Just you and us, Ursula!" He taunted.

"Ursula?" Quinton raised an eyebrow.

"You know, from the Little Mermaid? It was a good line, right?"

"Better than the last one." Quinton sighed.

Black Manta raised his gauntlet and started firing off blasts toward Jesse. Jesse dodged around blasts swiftly, frustrating Manta to no end.

"Come on! You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside!" Jesse shouted. Meanwhile, Quinton came around from behind with a liquid-blade, and moved to stab the villain. Manta quickly spun around and his trident caught Q in the lower wrist, drawing a spout of blood.

"Did you really think you could just sneak up on me like that?" Manta shouted and smacked in the side of the face with his free hand. Quinton fell to the ground spitting blood from his jaw. That was when Jesse came in from the opposite direction, full speed! Manta jammed back the butt of the trident, ramming it into Jesse's stomach, and the speedster hit the ground in agony.

"He's tougher than other villains." Jesse coughed.

"Yeah, I'd take Psimon any day." Quinton agreed.

"I took on the greatest heroes of your parent's generation, and on more than one occasion, I was the victor! Did you really expect to beat me?"

"Nope, but I expected to distract you long enough for Flo to recover." Quinton said plainly.

"What?"

Suddenly a wave of forceful, electrified water struck Manta and plowed him deep into the dunes! He started to get on his feet, when the water around him hardened into ice, holding him in place. Flo stepped in between Q and Jesse with her hands on her hips, looking down on Manta like she had just found a snake on a rabbit farm. "When you fought my dad, did he ever embarrass you this badly?"

"Stupid pond scum!" Manta shrieked. He fired a blast at full power from his gauntlet, shattering the ice around his right arm, and quickly used it to break himself free of the rest. He then charged toward Flo with a saber drawn, and plunged the weapon toward her. She blocked with her own blade, but he quickly overpowered her and pressed her back. Flo struggled to keep on her feet while she was pressed by the villain. "What do you have to say now, girl?" He roared. Flo looked into the dark, crimson red eyes of his helmet, and spat right between his eyes. "Without words then. Fine, die defiant." He growled, and threw her to the ground. Then he raised the blade to impale her.

"Wait a minute-" She held out her palm quickly. "Q, what percentage of saliva is water?"

"About 98 percent." He answered automatically.

"Ok, good." She quickly turned back to Black Manta, and morphed the spit on his helmet into a fist! Manta's head was knocked back, and Flo kicked her leg upward, hitting him in the jaw and smashing the helmet up off of his head! The helmet crashed down into the dirt next to Jesse.

"Sweet, souvenir!"

"Brat!" Manta stuck the blade into the ground, but Flo had rolled out of its path and slashed him in the cheek of his exposed face! Blood spurted, and Manta took a step back. Flo cartwheeled toward the water as Manta armed his laser. Time slowed to a crawl, Flo working up all of her power, and Manta taking aim…

The burst of yellow light came forth and sailed toward Flo. At the same time, she flung her arms forward, and brought forth the entire shoreline! The massive wave of water erupted forth, and she quickly formed a thick cascade of ice around her, which Manta's laser started to plow through. She hardened the ice to a point so strong that her nose bled from the concentration, and eventually the blast dissipated to a point where it was barely any more dangerous than a bee sting!

More water shot forward and swallowed Manta up in the wave. He held his breathe and the boosters in his suit kicked in. He swam toward Jesse and his helmet with incredible speed, but Flo shot forth her aquatic telepathy, and a giant squid latched onto Manta's arms! The villain started to resist, but without his helmet, his breathe was growing thin, and he became light headed. The squid tossed Manta toward Flo, and she drove a hard punch into his chest, knocking the air out of him completely.

Once he had swallowed a good amount of water, Flo created a waterspout that launched Manta out of the torrent! He came crashing down in the sands, and Flo morphed all of the water into one gigantic fist! "This is for Atlantis!" She shouted, pounding him further into the dirt. "This one is for my parents!" She smashed Manta again, and he sailed into the side of the ship. "And this one… this is just because you piss me off!" She sent one final, crushing blow down upon her foe. First she froze his suit inside and out, and then the full impact shattered the suit, leaving Manta in nothing but a Speedo!

He fell to the ground, hacking up gulps of water before falling unconscious. The water slowly splashed back down into the ocean, and Flo emerged slowly, breathing hard. She wobbled toward Quinton, who caught her in his arms. "That was awesome."

"It was tiring too." She wavered. "I've never used my powers like that before. Ever."

"And please never do again, you were absolutely terrifying." Jesse smiled, walking toward them with the helmet under his arm.

"You're really keeping that thing?" Flo raised an eyebrow.

"What? I like souvenirs. I've still got Deathstroke's mask too." Jesse then turned to Black Manta, pointed and shouted, "You're all washed up!"

"Dude, you really are in a rut." Quinton stated.

"Well somebody had to say it."

Over in the sand, they heard Manta's communicator going off. Grodd's voice was coming through, _"Manta, where in the hell are you?"_

Without hesitation, Quinton picked up the communicator and spoke in a perfect imitation of Black Manta, "Just checking along the shores. Everything's clear, I just need to take a dump and then I'll be back."

_"Disgusting imbecile… just get back here quickly! There's work to be done."_

Quinton turned off the communicator and slid it into his pocket, then turned to see Jesse and Flo staring at him awkwardly. "What?"

"What do you mean _what_? You just did an absolutely perfect impression of that creep!" Flo shouted.

"I'm good with voices." Q shrugged. "Are we getting back to Tommy or what?"

"What do we do with him?" Jesse nodded to the unconscious Manta.

"Take him. We might be able to get information." Flo said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… you want me to drag a soaking wet psychopath in a Speedo, back to our rendezvous point for a stealth mission?"

"Yup."

"Great."

**(Secret Lair – Twenty Minutes Later)**

"I trust there was no trouble, while we were away?" Grodd said loudly.

"No sir." Copperhead hissed. Copperhead, Volcana, Killer Frost, and Atomic Skull had been left behind to guard the base while the larger squad went to capture Alex.

"Did you even _leave _this base while I was away?" Grodd narrowed his gaze.

"Uh… no sir." Copperhead admitted, having learned a long time ago not to lie to Grodd.

"Imbecile." The evil gorilla muttered. "Riot! Go search the island, make sure we're the only ones here!"

"Sure thing boss!" Riot cackled, and then multiplied into a clone army of himself! The dozens of Riots sprinted into the armory and grabbed loads of weaponry, before running back onto the island.

"Idiots." Grodd sighed.

"Don't worry baby. Once we get Luthor's old machine working, you can get rid of all those useless henchmen." Tala cooed.

"Don't tempt me, witch." Grodd barked, and motioned for Grundy to take Alex down a hallway. As they walked, Grodd stopped and turned toward Cheetah. "Go search out Manta will you? He's one of the few people here with any actual competence."

**(Apokolips – Five Minutes Later)**

"Lord Darkseid, we have received interesting news." Desaad reported.

"News of what." Darkseid commanded, somewhat absently.

"A ship was reported leaving the area near The Hole on Earth. A ship that has not been seen in several years. We believe it may be-"

"The ship belonging to Gorilla Grodd. I am well aware." Darkseid interrupted. "I have known of his survival for years. He is of no threat to us."

"But we believe that he abducted Alexander Luthor, meaning-"

"Meaning that they plan to activate Luthor's Hell Spear. I know this. The reason it is not a problem, is because Grodd has no idea what the machine was actually intended for." Darkseid looked up into Apokolips's fiery red skies. "Luthor wasn't just creating a weapon, he was building a gateway. And when Grodd tries to use it solely as a weapon, we will make our move. And kill all of our enemies."

**(Back on the Island – Later that Night)**

Night had fallen, and the team was ready to make their move. The eight of them stood on the highest point of the island, a large plateau, and looked out over the landscape. Allie had the scope on her bow, and was searching the area. But other than hundreds of armed Riot clones searching the island, she saw absolutely nothing. "I can't find anybody guys. It's like they all just disappeared." She said disappointedly.

"I do." Jesse said.

"What?" Everyone looked at him.

"A big light, out in that swamp over there. Don't you guys see it too?" Jesse asked in a confused voice.

"No." Troy shook his head.

"What are you talking about? I don't see a damn thing!" Ethan snapped.

"Hold on, let me see that bow." Jesse took the weapon from Allie and peered through the scope. He zoomed in on the swamp, and saw a gigantic dome-shaped building, painted black with dark red windows. "Yeah, there's a building right out there!"

Allie took the bow and looked, but pulled away confused. "I don't see anything but swamp there, Jesse."

"There isn't anything there dude. Are you feeling ok?' Troy raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, how hard did Manta hit you?" Flo sounded concerned.

"It's right there! I swear!" Jesse insisted.

"Hold on, I'll settle this." Allie stepped toward the edge of the plateau and released a sonic burst toward the swamp, then waited a moment, with her eyes closed. She sensed the echoes reverberate off something metal, and come bounding back at her. She opened her eyes wide. "Jesse's right… there is definitely something out there. I don't know if it's a building, but my sonics bounced off of something that we don't see."

"Maybe it's being cloaked?" Fate suggested.

"But that doesn't explain why West can see it." Ethan added quickly.

"Wait a second…" Q sounded intrigued. "I think I figured this out! It's his speed… you see, when you cloak something with technology, it involves a rapid, real-time camera system that basically puts what's behind an object, in front of it. It appears invisible to us because our eyes can't keep up with it. But Jesse… just like your thought process and your metabolism, your visual receptors must operate at a faster rate than ours! Your eyes are actually working faster than the flash system, allowing you to see their building!"

"Sweet!" Jesse smiled, and looked to Tommy. "And _you _didn't even want to bring me along!"

"It could still be a trap." Tommy said absently.

"Let's ask him." Troy nodded toward the Black Manta, dressed only in his Speedo and confined by rings of strong ice around his body.

"As if I'd tell you anything." Manta growled.

"Well you see, you won't have much of a choice." Troy stepped forward and put his hand on Manta's shoulder. "Is there a cloaked building in that swamp?"

Manta's eyes flashed gold, and he responded quickly, "Yes."

"Is Grodd there?"

"Yes."

"How many villains are with him?"

"Seventeen total."

"Thanks." Troy then pushed Manta down onto the ground, and turned toward the group. "There you go. Jesse, good job."

"Ok, there are armed Riot clones swarming this island. We've got traps of our own set up around the perimeter. Try and stick together, if we have to separate, then we'll regroup as soon as possible. Once the traps get going, they'll know we're here. That's ok; in fact, it'll be an advantage as long as they don't know where we are. Chances are they're going to spread out and search for us. We stick together, and take them down one by one." Tommy announced.

"Divide and conquer. Nice tactic." Troy smiled and folded his arms.

"The traps should do a lot of the work for us. My goal is to take out our enemy unseen, and once the cronies are out, we get rid of Grodd." Tommy continued.

"Guerilla warfare." Quinton nodded.

"Or gorilla warfare." Jesse stated, getting no reaction at all.

"Jesse, I get that you're in a rut and everything, but now you're just scrounging for jokes dude." Quinton groaned.

**(Forest – Minutes Later)**

Two Riot clones armed with M16s walked through the woods chattering loudly, searching for intruders. Suddenly, one of them hit a trip wire, and it triggered a contraption made from salvaged parts of the Aquaship that flung sharpened stones into the clone! The stones pierced the clone like arrowheads, and he burst into a cloud of sediment. The second clone jumped backward, and his foot was caught in a rope! Quickly, the clone was pulled upwards and suspended upside down off a tree branch!

He began to scream, but Troy stepped out of the bushes and put his hand over the clone's mouth. "How many of you clones are there?" Troy asked calmly, pulling his hand from the mouth.

"Ninety nine, now!" The clone spat automatically, gold flashing in his eyes.

"Make it ninety eight." Troy stepped back and pierced the clone through the chest with his sword, watching it dissolve. Jesse zoomed out in a blur, reset the trap. Troy looked up to a large hawk circling the sky above. The hawk swooped down and enveloped in a purple light as it came to rest on a tree branch. When the light faded, Fate sat there staring down at them. "All clear?" Troy asked.

"The path straight ahead of you is pretty clear for now." She said. "Stick to this ditch, and it'll lead you to the swamp. There are only a couple clones along the way."

"Thanks." He gave her thumbs up, and Fate took off back into the sky.

The rest of the team emerged from the bushes, led by Tommy. "Nicely done." He nodded to Troy.

"Yup, we've still got work though. We should get going."

"Yeah." Tommy took charge. Ethan, meanwhile, switched to his electro-vision, in which he could see the flow of electricity, including the bioelectricity operating in the human brain. He scanned the forests around them, checking for approaching enemies, just as Tommy had instructed.

Out to the far left, a Riot clone fell into a deep pit dug in the ground, and hit a series of spikes carved out of tree branches, killing it quickly. A second clone hit a trip wire, and a rope swung down with a large rock tied to it, striking the clone in the head and breaking his neck! Jesse kept sprinting out and resetting them, then running back to the team, who moved swiftly through a relatively deep ditch in the ground, ducking behind cover every chance they had.

Occasionally they would come across some clones, and Allie would snipe them down without hesitation. There was very little conversation, everyone carried out their tasks and did what needed to be done, determined to not be seen.

**(River – Ten Minutes Later)**

Volcana walked bitterly out toward the river, trying to find where Manta had gone. The mistress of fire stopped in her tracks when she saw a trip wire at her feet. "What's this?" She knelt down with intrigue, and stepped effortlessly over the wire. "Someone really did make it to our island." She released a fireball that burned away the wire, and a makeshift spear fired out through where her head would have been, had she tripped it with her feet. "Somebody who knows their way around a trap."

She heard footsteps approaching, and ducked behind a large stone. She peered out to see Jesse West reach the area. Fate had informed him the trap had gone off, and he was there to set it again. The speedster knelt down toward the charred piece of wire. "What the-"

Suddenly a fireball erupted forth, and Jesse rolled out of the way just as it struck the ground where he had been sitting! Volcana leapt out toward her, fires blazing in her palms, and struck out at him! Jesse dodged around her blows at his fasted speed, and tried landing blows on her as well, but couldn't even bring his fist close enough because of the intensity of the flame! He cartwheeled back just as she fired a blast of flame into the ground, narrowly avoiding the blaze. "What's your deal lady?"

"I don't appreciate trespassers!" She roared, and swung out her hand. A curved wave of heat erupted forth, and Jesse bent over backwards to avoid it.

"Is it some rule that supervillain ladies have to be hot? Of course, in your case I guess that works in the literal sense too…"

"You know what kid? You remind me a lot of your dad. You're both irritating." She flung out more blasts, turning the earth to charcoal as Jesse evaded! He spun around quickly in the dirt, flinging up a blinding shroud of soil. When the smoke cleared, he had vanished. "You aren't getting away that easy, you little brat." Volcana growled, and followed Jesse's footprints through the now blackened, dead grass. She saw him lying in the trench where the river had once been! She absently wondered why the river had suddenly disappeared, but was too focused on her rage to really think about it. He held her blazing hands above her head, and leapt down at Jesse! Her flame made contact with him, and blasted him into the ground! However, when the smoke had cleared, she realized that what she attacked had been nothing more than a few logs stuffed inside his costume! "Where did the runt go?"

"Hey lady, you should really pay more attention to detail!" Jesse's voice called down, and she looked up to see him standing on top of the river bank in his civilian clothes, staring down with a smile on his face and his hands in his pockets. "And by the way, the name's Impulse."

Volcana prepared to attack, when she heard the sound of rushing water… she looked back down at the decoy, and realized there had been yet another wire attached to the logs. One that she had triggered. She turned to see a flood of water rushing toward her, and realized to her horror that they had built a dam further down the river. A dam she had just broken! "You little-" She started to shriek, but was swallowed up in the current, washed away.

"Well dam!" Jesse shouted, and then chuckled at his own joke. He then turned on his intercom and signaled Tommy. "I just took down Volcana."

"By yourself?" Tommy's voiced came through.

"You sound surprised."

"Well, you normally don't accomplish much on your own."

"I guess it wasn't technically all me. The whole dam thing was your idea."

"What was my idea?"

"You know, the dam thing!"

"What 'damn thing' are you talking about?"

"You know what? This is stupid." Jesse turned off the intercom and started to race back toward the team, when a hand shot up from the water and grabbed his ankle! Jesse was yanked into the water, and saw the submerged face of a very angry Volcana! She overpowered him easily, and started to drown him, along with herself! Jesse was beginning to lose consciousness, when a bright bolt of energy hit Volcana in the back, and morphed into a giant hand that clenched around her! It ripped Volcana up out of the water and dropped her right into a punch by Fate! The hit sent the villainess reeling, and she landed on the ground unconscious. Jesse swam up slowly, and looked at Fate in stunned amazement.

"You owe me." She smiled. Without another word, Jesse shot up out of the water. Gunfire started, but Jesse put up a vibration wall in front of him that shook the bullets out of the air. He then flew in at lightning speeds and smashed the two approaching Riot clones in a hail of punches and kicks, putting them down quickly.

"We're even." He said, matching her smile.

**(Cliff Area – Same Time)**

"What's taking Jesse so long?" Ethan grumbled.

"He said he took down Volcana. Hopefully he's hiding her somewhere the Riot clones won't find her." Tommy reasoned.

"Hey guys, what happened to Black Manta?" Allie asked nervously. The team quickly looked to Ethan, who had been dragging the villain by chain. Ethan looked back to see that the person he was dragging had been replaced with a Riot clone!

"I don't know, he just-" Ethan started, but was quickly drown out by Flo's screaming.

"Quinton, look out!" She shrieked, but it was too late. A small metallic dart shaped like a stingray flew into the back of Quinton's neck! He ripped it out and turned to see Black Manta holding a gun in hand! Quinton started to go on the offensive, but his vision started to blur, and he toppled over into the mud!

"That was highly concentrated Blowfish poison that just entered your bloodstream. That pain you're feeling right now, that's your nervous system shutting down. And the best part is, the poison doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning that you'll be wide awake for your entire, agonizingly painful death." Manta taunted.

"How did he even get loose without me noticing?" Ethan growled.

"That's called professionalism, sweetie." A lethal but feminine voice said. Ethan turned just in time to be kicked in the face by Cheetah!

Ethan tumbled down off the hill they were on and onto a stone ledge, hitting the ground forcefully. Troy looked down to see if he was alright, when gunfire erupted forth! Troy turned and quickly leapt out of the way of a hail of bullets! Troy landed down on the ledge next to Ethan, and the shadow of a massive figure loomed over them. The General crashed down in front of the two of them, putting deep cracks in the ledge, holding a Gatling Gun with one arm!

"What is that?" Ethan groaned.

"General Wayde Eiling." Troy said slowly. "He was a huge anti-metahuman activist, before he transformed himself into a monster and tried to kill them all."

"I did what I did for the good of my country." The General growled.

"Your country doesn't exist anymore." Troy responded coolly. Ethan moved in to attack the giant, firing a bolt of electricity that blasted the Gatling Gun out of his hands. But then Ethan approached and The General flung out his massive arm, smacking away Ethan with ease! Ethan hit the stony wall and blood splattered from his face. General then swung a punch at Troy, but Troy jumped up, flipped around General's arm, sprung off of it, and kicked him with both feet in the shoulder blades! General stumbled forward, and Troy turned to kick him off the ledge when General stomped, shattering the stone beneath their feet!

Troy and the General started to plummet downward through the gorge, but luckily they landed in a gigantic tangle of vines. Thousands of thick vines intertwined throughout the gorge, acting sort of like a net! They were both caught, General sinking further through the web of vines than his opponent. Troy grabbed onto one and swung forward, planting both his feet in the generals face! General struck Troy in the stomach and knocked him downward. Troy caught another vine and flipped up behind the enemy, landing with his arms around more vines, holding him up. He started swinging swiftly through the web, avoiding more blows by his opponent, and drew his sword! He began to slash away at the vines holding up his combatant!

Within seconds the General began to tumble downward, but grabbed onto a mess of vines just in time. He grabbed Troy by the ankle and smashed his face into the rock wall, before pulling him back and crunching his leg!

Troy flung back his sword and hit General in the nose with the hilt of the weapon, causing him to let go. Troy then swung upward, held his sword high, and as he began to fall, shouted, "Ethan!"

From above, Ethan released a powerful electric surge into Troy's sword, and Troy brought the weapon down violently into General's torso! There was a blinding blue flash, the smell of burning flesh, and an electrical surge. The General's purple blood sprayed, and when the light faded, the giant's smoldering body went crashing down to the bottom of the gorge. Troy, breathing heavily, slowly climbed back up to the ledge, where Ethan helped him up.

"Good work." Ethan admitted.

"You too." Troy nodded tiredly, and the two began to climb upwards.

**(Up Top – Same Time)**

Cheetah tackled Allie forcefully, a piercing roar erupting from her mouth, and the two tumbled over the other edge of the cliff! It was pretty much a vertical fall, and Cheetah dug her claws deep into Allie's back! Allie released a sonic scream directly into Cheetah's face, forcing the villainess to leg go instantly. Allie jammed an arrowhead into the cliff side, and hung there tiredly, blood running from the wounds on her back.

Cheetah latched onto the side of the cliff and crawled up swiftly after Allie. "I'm going to rip you apart bitch!" Cheetah belched. Allie fired down more sonic screams, but Cheetah dodged them all in swift orange blurs. The villainess dug her claws into Allie's leg, and ripped her downward! They began to fall again, and Allie jammed the arrow into Cheetah's shoulder, bringing forth a spout of blood. As they neared the ground, Allie fired out a grapple arrow and stuck the top of a tree, swinging forward and kicking Cheetah in the chest as she did so! Allie touched the ground in a roll, and stood up with only some bruises to show for it.

She looked around the valley she had landed in, darting her eyes all around, trying to figure out where Cheetah had gone. "Where did she-" Suddenly Cheetah leapt out of a tree and tackled Allie down, slashing her in the cheek! Blood ran onto the grass. Allie flung up her legs and kicked cheetah off, then rolled out and shot another arrow into her leg! Cheetah pulled the arrow out, threw it to the floor, and charged. In a blur, she slashed her claws across Allie's stomach, leaving deep gashes, and then kicked the girl in the side of the head! Allie tumbled to the ground, and rolled out of the way of a stomp.

Allie started firing a barrage of arrows, but Cheetah dodged around every shot! As she approached, Allie whipped out a bolo. Cheetah simply caught the weapon out of the air, and laughed. She ripped the rope in two, and began swinging one of the heavy ends at her enemy! The heavy steel ball struck Allie in the jaw, then came back and hit her in the temple! Allie stumbled backward, seeing double. Cheetah brought up the bolo to swing again, when Allie hit it with a very focused sonic scream.

The powerful vibrations actually caused the bolo to explode into shrapnel! The shards of metal impaled Cheetah's shoulder area. Blood sprayed, and Cheetah stumbled backward with a ruined shoulder. "Little brat! I am going to chew you up, and spit you out!" Cheetah screamed.

"Actually, no you aren't." Allie smiled. "All those arrows I missed? I wasn't missing."

"Huh?" Cheetah looked around to see the arrows arranged in a circle around her. Allie pressed the button on a detonator, and the arrows began to flash a bright blue. Cheetah started to run, but the arrows burst, and encased Cheetah in a large block of ice!

Tommy came rushing down to help, but saw this and stepped back. "I guess you've got it handled."

"Yeah, you're a little late."

By the time the two made their way back up, Black Manta had been taken down again, and this time Fate cast a spell to cover his body in unbreakable magic chains. 'Why are we even dragging this guy around?" Jesse grunted.

"Hostage exchange, if necessary." Tommy explained.

"Well I'm putting him somewhere safe." Fate took out her purse, uttered a spell, and suddenly Manta was sucked inside the small purse! "I'll let him out when we're ready." She said casually.

"What happened to General?" Tommy asked.

"I took him down." Troy smiled.

"I helped." Ethan added.

"Good work. Allie put the Cheetah on ice. Jesse, you took down Volcana. And Flo took out Manta. That means we have four enemies down… thirteen left."

"Guys, this is really bad!" Flo shouted, and they looked over to see Quinton on the ground, convulsing in agony. "The poison, it's really getting to him!"

"Hang on." Tommy knelt down next to Quinton and pulled a device out of his utility belt, a small hypodermic needle. He injected the needle into Quinton's arm. "That's supposed to be an immune system booster, it should help his body combat the poison."

"I can help too." Fate placed her hands on Quinton's chest, and uttered a long string of words in Latin, her eyes glowing. Quinton's body suddenly lit up in a purple glow, and began to float just above the ground. "I put his body in a healing stasis. It should help a little bit."

"I'll stay back with him and try to help him recover." Flo said.

"Ok." Tommy nodded. "Keep in touch with us. Don't get caught."

"Of course." Flo then picked up Quinton in her arms and took him to an area heavy with brush. "Tommy…"

"Yeah?"

"Beat their evil asses."

"You can count on it."

**(Grodd's Fortress – One Hour Later)**

A Riot clone stepped casually underneath a large tree on the edges of the swamp, searching the area thoroughly. A pair of hands dropped down from the tree and lifted Riot up by the shoulders, and suddenly the clone was being punched out by Tommy Grayson! Through his comlink, Tommy signaled the rest of the team at their hiding places. "All clear around the swamp. Jesse, you still see the building?"

"Yup." Jesse replied through the link. "Give me a sec, and you'll see it too."

"How's he going to do that?" Ethan asked from his channel.

"With that little souvenir I took from Alex back at The Hole." Jesse responded. From his hiding place in the bushes, Jesse fumbled out the EMP Gauntlet.

"Hold on, aren't they going to realize their fortress is suddenly visible?" Troy asked skeptically.

"Yeah Jesse, there's probably an alarm linked to the device or something." Fate said.

"Not if Allie uses her sonics to interfere with the signal." Jesse smiled.

"Good thinking." Tommy acknowledged.

"I bet you're glad you brought me along now!" Jesse laughed.

"Allie, think you can do it?"

"Definitely." She replied.

Jesse aimed the gauntlet toward the building, and fired it at full power! The EMP wave shorted out the cloaking device, and within seconds the building flickered into visibility. An alarm started to go off, but Allie manipulated the sound and muted it.

The building was a massive black dome, half submerged in the swamp. The few windows were tinted a dark red. Around the edge, Atomic Skull patrolled. Tommy aimed his Bat Claw, and fired. The claw latched onto Atomic Skull and pulled the villain into the water! The flaming headed nuclear criminal shrieked as his powers were dampened down by the water. The claw then retracted further, pulling him through the swamp and right into the tree, face first! The criminal hit the ground and didn't get up.

Tommy jumped down into the swamp, followed by his comrades. They swam quickly to the lower area of the building, and Tommy activated a device in his gloves to attach him magnetically. He climbed upwards along the side, followed by Ethan, Jesse, Allie, Troy and Fate, all of whom had equipped themselves with similar technology.

Once they reached the top, Tommy nodded to Jesse. The speedster sighed. "Here goes nothing." Then he began vibrating as fast as he could manage, trying to phase his molecules through the steel. It was the first time he had ever attempted this. After a few minutes of attempting, Jesse managed to move through the roof, and dropped down into a cold metal hallway. His nose was bleeding, but he was in nonetheless. "Sweet!" He celebrated quietly. Jesse then looked up at the security camera, and for a moment froze, but then realized it wasn't active. "Good news Tommy. It looks like security is down already." Jesse said through his comlink.

"Good. I don't think Grodd had the recourses to fix this place up much after the invasion. Just get us inside now, Jess."

"Sure thing." Jesse nodded, then zoomed over to a panel that controlled the moveable tiles in that hallway. He turned around and figured out what the coordinates of the right second would be, then punched them into the key panel. The tiles on the ceiling where the team was waiting began to slide open, and they all dropped in easily.

"Where do you think they're holding Alex?" Tommy asked.

"Why do we care?" Ethan grumbled.

"Because we already have enough problems. I don't need Grodd using him turn on another weapon." Tommy stated bluntly. "I'm not saying we have to be all buddy-buddy with Alex, but we need to get him out of here if we want to avoid more trouble."

"Fine, give a minute. I should be able to pick up the electric signature from Alex's magnetism suit." Ethan said, then closed his eyes and focused in, allowing his mind to trace through all of the electricity moving through the building. "Got it." He said after a moment. He's not too far from here. Follow me." Ethan pried open an air vent, and moved to crawl in.

"A vent?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't exactly look like that thing has had much maintenance these last couple years; I see a lot of spider webs." Fate chided.

"You guys want to find Alex or not?" Ethan grunted. "Then follow me!" After a moment, they were all inside the vent, and Tommy pulled the grate back into place.

A few minutes later, Copperhead came walking down the hallway, and stopped when he something odd on the floor. A drop of blood… from Jesse's nose. He dipped his finger in the blood and stared at it for a moment. "Interesting. It looks like Cheetah may not have been so paranoid after all."

**(Ten Minutes Later)**

After crawling through the ratty, rusted out, rat infested vent for what felt like forever, Ethan came to a stop above a grate looking down into a small room. "We're here."

"Thank God, I seriously just pulled a rat out of my bra!" Allie stated.

"Yeah, I'm definitely ready to get out of here. It smells like crap." Fate added.

"Sorry." Jesse muttered.

Ethan kicked out the grate, and one by one they all dropped down into the small room, illuminated only by a dim light bulb. And tied to a wooden chair, beaten to a pulp, was Alex Luthor. "T- Tommy…?" He asked, his voice full of pain.

"Don't get too excited. We're getting you out of here, and then you're on your own." Tommy stated, walking over to untie his former friend.

"I figured you would come." Alex looked at Allie through his swollen eyes. "It was her idea wasn't? She's so trusting."

"Actually, it was mine." Tommy said, working through the knots around Alex's hands.

"Wow, how out of character."

"Don't get used to it. I think you deserve this, in all honesty. But Grodd is up to something worse, and I'd prefer not to let it happen."

Finally, Tommy stepped away, the knots untied. Alex to slowly to his feet. "Thanks."

"Shut up and let's get out of here."

"Hold on, Tommy…" Alex huffed, and planted his hand on Tommy's shoulder. "There's something you should know…"

"What?"

"You're an idiot." Suddenly Alex's eyes turned a bright yellow, and his arm morphed into a rush of heavy brown sludge! The sludge struck Tommy and blasted him straight through the iron doorway, sending him tumbling into the hall!

"What the hell?" Troy gasped and drew his sword.

"Surprise!" A heavily distorted voice said, erupting from Alex's mouth. His entire body began to morph, become a giant, semi-humanoid pile of the sludge… Clayface!

"Crap." Tommy pulled out his knife and wobbled to his feet.

"We knew you were coming! It was only a matter of time, brats!" Clayface taunted. He lunged out his arm at Troy, who dodged to the left, but the strike made contact with Jesse and blasted him head first into a fire extinguisher, just about giving him a concussion! Allie fired off a few arrows into Clayface, but he simply absorbed them into his body. Then one exploded, and the blast splattered the walls with putty… but Clayface quickly reformed behind Allie and struck her down!

Troy came at him with his sword, but Clayface separated his torso to avoid the slash, and morphed his hand into a hammer, pounding Troy hard against the wall! Ethan tried getting a shot in, but Clayface launched wads of sludge around Ethan's fists, and his blasts backfired on himself as a result! Fate started to utter a spell, when Clayface whipped a chunk of sludge onto her mouth, disabling her ability to speak!

Tommy started to draw a baterang, when Clayface lunged at him full force! From behind, Jesse whipped the fire extinguisher into Clayface's back. The canister sunk into his body as Allie pierced it with an arrow, causing it's contents to spray like a rocket inside of Clayface! The pressure separated a part of his chest, and Tommy whipped in the baterang… it began to beep, and just before Clayface struck the hero down, it erupted into a burst of freezing cold, which froze the contents escaping from the fire extinguisher, and thus turning Clayface into an ice sickle from the inside out!

Troy stuck the frozen monster as hard as he could, shattering him into thousands of icy shards. Tommy watched Clayface crumble, breathing heavily, and saw Alex's magnetic suit in the corner of the room. Ethan had picked up the right energy signature, but led them to the wrong person.

"They know we're here." Troy acknowledged.

"Yeah. They must have moved Alex already." Tommy nodded.

"Well I say we get out of here before reinforcements arrive."

"Go if you want." Tommy turned down the hallway. "I'm taking Grodd down."

"Tommy, come on! So what if he gets this weapon, it can't be worse than anything Apokolips has! If anything this'll help us, it'll give the parademons something else to shoot at!"

"Troy, these are the people who fought are parents. And now they think they've won."

"So that's what this is about? You're defending some kind of family honor?" Troy exasperated. "Tommy, you don't _have _a family! What is there to defend?"

"If you want to get out of here, do it. That's your decision. The same goes for all of you." Tommy pulled on his helmet, but this time flipped out the pointed ears near the top… "I'm done running from who I am. I was created to be the perfect Batman. Like it or not, that's what I am. Now I'm going to prove it to myself… and to _them_."

"I'll go." Allie smiled. "Tommy, you're the closest thing to family I have left. If you feel like you need to do this, I'm with you all the way."

"Me too I guess." Jesse stepped forward. "I'd follow you two anywhere. Mostly because you're the only people who will talk to me."

"I guess I'm in this too." Ethan decided, and stepped up.

"Same here." Fate decided. "You guys are the only living people I know, it wouldn't make sense to go off on my own now."

"Fine, you guys want to get yourselves killed, go for it. I'm going somewhere I'm not in danger of getting my ass ripped off by a crazed gorilla." Troy shook his head, and turned to leave the building. Then he stopped and glanced at Tommy. "Good luck Tommy. I really do want to see you survive, even if no one else."

"See you on the other side." Tommy nodded.

**(Lower Lab – Fifteen Minutes Later)**

Grodd, Tala, Grundy, Bizarro, Copperhead, Killer Frost, Deadshot, Dr. Light, Shadow Thief, and the real Riot had gathered in the basement of the fortress. And in the center of the large room, was a gigantic machine… it looked almost like a giant, menacing Death Ray or something, but with a giant projector attached to the top of the barrel.

"What is it?" Shadow Thief asked.

"That is the Hell Spear. It was Lex Luthor's final creation, his idea to gain an upper hand in the war. Before he was murdered. I was never able to activate it, until now." Grodd nodded to Grundy, who threw the real Alex Luthor onto the floor, beaten to a bloody pulp.

Grodd lifted up Alex by the hair and pointed his head toward the Hell Spear. "That's what all this is about? Let me guess, a there's a big diamond in the middle to make the laser bigger." Alex scoffed in the loudest voice he could manage at the time, which wasn't much.

"Not quite, welt." Grodd spat. "The core is made up the some components as a Hellspore, a powerful Apokoliptian bomb capable of destroying planets. Luthor stole a Hellspore and used it as this machine's power source. The blast it fires is powerful enough to turn a planet the size of Earth into a fireball, in a split second. And you see that device on the top there?" Grodd pointed to the projector-looking thing attached to the barrel.

"Oh wow, you get to watch a movie while you're blowing up the planet." Alex mocked.

"No, idiot. That device was built with scraps from two both Big Barda's motherbox, and the JLA teleporter. It is capable of opening a Boom Tube to literally anywhere in existence, and the laser is fired through that tube! For example, if I were to put in Oa's coordinates, it would tear up a portal to Oa and fire the blast directly through to that planet."

"Alright, I'm somewhat impressed." Alex choked. "And you think I know how to work that machine… why?"

"It doesn't matter if you know how." Grodd smiled and threw Alex violently against the side of it. "Luthor placed a DNA coding in the machine, and only people with matching DNA can use it. That kept the weapon from being used against him."

"I think you need a lesson in how genetics work, Kong. Yeah I'm his son, but I don't have the exact same DNA as him!" Alex spouted.

"That's the catch." Grodd said with a grin. "Your father knew he was going to die before he could ever use the Hell Spear. So instead of his own, he coded it to _your _DNA. He planned for his son to pick up where he left off, and only you can use it." Grodd stepped forward. "And now that I have you, I have the single most powerful weapon in the universe at my disposal."

Alex began to come back with a witty remark, when Grodd pushed into him with his telepathic powers. Suddenly Alex was being forced against his wall to move toward the control panel of the machine, and touched his hand to the DNA scanner.

**"Identification Confirmed: Alexander Luthor. Access Granted." **An automated voice said. The sound of the machine powering up could be heard, and the barrel began to raise.

"Beautiful." Grodd smiled. "Soon, I'll have even Darkseid groveling at my feet!" Suddenly a baterang sailed into the control panel, and sparks flew, burning at Alex's hand! "What?" Grodd spun around and was hit in the face by a boxing glove arrow fired by Allie!

This broke his control over Alex, who looked up and saw Tommy and the others on top of a steel walkway high above! "You people actually came to help me?" He gasped.

"Trust me, it isn't because of you." Tommy yelled back.

"What are you idiots waiting for? Kill them!" Grodd shrieked.

Bizarro fired a wave of heat vision upwards at them, which Fate blocked with a force field. Jesse then zoomed down and kicked Riot unconscious before he could create more clones. Deadshot opened fire at the speedster, but a grapple from Tommy wrapped around his wrist gun and jerked it upward! Deadshot wound up hitting a light fixture that fell down on top of him, crushing him underneath!

Tala unleashed waves of purple energy, and Fate responded with her old golden waves, clashing against each other. Ethan attacked Dr. Light, but the villain blocked his strike with a light force-field, and then blasted him back! The shot drew blood from Ethan's shoulder, and he hit the ground hard. "Light is faster than lightning, kid!" Dr. Light shouted, and bombarded Ethan with more waves of energy, burning at his flesh!

Shadow Thief erupted from behind Allie, while Grundy came from the front. Allie used her sonics to tap into Grundy's simple mind, and took control by triggering the inactive receptors in his brain! She made Grundy grab Dr. Light instead, and threw him directly into Shadow Thief. The light burned away the shadowy villain, and the impact knocked out Light! Ethan then got up and fired a burst of electricity straight through Grundy's chest, knocking him down to the ground in a smoldering heap!

Jesse dodged around more blows from Bizarro. "Man, you couldn't hit the side of a barn from the inside!" Jesse quipped for the second time that day.

"No sense that not even maked!" Bizarro roared. Jesse tried hitting him a few times, but wound up hurting his hands more then anything.

"Jesse! He's vulnerable to magic more than anything!" Tommy shouted while dodging around strikes from Copperhead.

"Fate, switch me!" Jesse shouted. He and Fate then quickly doubled around each other. Bizarro charged at the girl, but she fired a magic blast into his chest that turned him into a frog! She caught the frog out of the air, and tossed it across the room.

"A frog? Really?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"I was actually trying to do a bunny, but whatever." Fate shrugged.

Jesse then dodged around a few attacks from Tala before getting up a lot of velocity, and hitting her in the face himself! She fell down, vision blurry. "I don't usually hit girls, especially not hot ones like you, but you know… you started it." Jesse said uneasily.

Tommy planted a final hit on Copperhead, and then tied him up in a bolo and kicked him across the room. Suddenly Tommy was picked up and thrown across the room by Grodd! Tommy hit the wall hard.

"Who do you little ingrates think you are?" Grodd roared.

"Isn't it is obvious?" Tommy got to his feet. "I'm the mother effing Batman!"

Grodd fired a mental blast toward Tommy, but Tommy's helmet was able to resist telepathy, a feature that was just as much news to him as anyone else. Grodd grimaced, and decided to go hand to hand. And the problem was, Tommy doubted he could win. Grodd was strong, fast, and had a lot of experience with hitting superheroes.

"Fate! Negotiation time!" Tommy shouted.

Fate opened up her magic purse and released Black Manta, still bound in chains. Tommy took the villain and held a baterang by his throat.

"Manta!" Grodd's eyes widened.

"Yeah, Manta. I'm guessing the only one who knows how to pilot that ship of yours, judging by the Atlantean-looking markings on the side." Tommy smiled behind his mask. "That means you need him, doesn't it?"

"You don't know a damned thing boy!" Grodd barked.

"My negotiations are simple. Give us Alex, and we'll give you Manta. Then we all walk away like this never happened."

"Not a chance, you little ignoramus! I don't know you… but I know Batman… and he wouldn't kill."

"I'm a different Batman. Maybe I'll kill him, maybe I won't. Is it really worth it to risk finding out?"

"No, I suppose not." Grodd grinned. "Not unless I add another pawn to the game. Hell, why not two!" He waved his hand, and two Riot clones stepped inside, holding Flo and Quinton hostage! Both captives had guns to their heads. "I may not know if you'll kill, but you know I will." Grodd laughed. "And I'll kill them both."

After a moment of frustrated contemplation, Tommy sighed and pushed Manta forward. "That's what I thought." Grodd laughed. "Now, _hero, _you can sit and watch… while the age of Gorilla Grodd begins!" Grodd roared, and turned back toward Alex and the machine.

But at that moment, a sword pierced through the sky and slashed down the Riot clone holding Flo! Flo then spun around and punched down the one holding Quinton, and carried him down toward Tommy and the others!

They looked up to where the sword had come from, and saw Troy staring down at them from the walk way! "Miss me?" Troy said with a smile.

"I figured you'd show up!" Tommy called.

"Yeah, well, I'm just heroic like that." Troy leapt down and planted a kick on Grodd's very angry face, before flipping off and landing next to his brother. He picked up a sword, tossed out a lasso, and pulled Alex's unconscious body toward them.

"You think I'll just let you leave?" Grodd demanded. "I'll rip you all to pieces!"

"About that, you might want to diffuse that Hellspore powering your weapon first." Troy smiled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Before I jumped in and saved the day, I crept into the Hell Spear and did a little tampering with its power source. You know, that one that can blow up planets? It's set to go off in about five minutes."

"Impossible! You don't even know the activation code!" Grodd reasoned.

"Oh really… K4667pNn11?"

"No!" Grodd's eyes widened. He looked up toward the machine and quickly climbed up toward the power core, and climbed inside to diffuse the bomb! Ethan grabbed up Alex, and they all sprinted outward. Instead of using the door, Allie and Tommy both launched bombs into the far wall, and watched it crumble! Soon they were in a hangar area, where they found a large black helicopter. Everyone shoveled into the helicopter, and Jesse moved to pilot.

"Jess, do you have any idea how to pilot this thing?" Tommy asked.

"I'll figure something out." Jesse shrugged and began flipping random switches.

Fate rolled her eyes and nodded to Ethan. He sent a surge through the floor to jump start the engine, and then Fate cast a spell to create a powerful wind, allowing the copter to raise up off the ground, and push it in the right direction.

"No way! I did it!" Jesse gasped, oblivious to his teammate's interfering.

"Good job Jesse." Fate said with hidden sarcasm, and let him pretend that he was actually flying.

Tommy looked to Troy curiously. "How did you know the activation code for that Hellspore?"

"I didn't." Troy shrugged.

"Then what happened in there?"

"Well, I figured since Lex Luthor built the thing, Grodd probably wouldn't even know the code either. So I just said something that sounded right."

"Nice." Tommy looked at the unconscious Alex.

"What should we do with him?"

"I'll think of something when we land."

"Hey guys, I think there's a problem with this helicopter." Jesse said.

"What is it?" Allie asked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure we're flying North, but the compass needle is pointing East."

"That's the gas gauge!" Allie shouted when she saw what he was talking about.

"Oh … oh shit!" Jesse shouted. "We're like, out of gas in this thing!"

"Hold on, lets just land it on their ship." Flo suggested.

"You sure that's a good idea? They might have a way to track it." Troy said.

"We'll figure that out later. Right now we really have to get off this island before those villains all recover, and we can't go over the ocean in a helicopter with no fuel."

"We'll be safer from Apokoliptian scouts if we're out of the air anyway." Allie agreed.

"Alright then, land this thing on Grodd's ship. Flo, you think you can pilot that thing?"

"Probably." She shrugged.

"So… where are we going to go from there?" Troy asked.

"Well that's easy. We're getting a Kryptonian."

**A/N I'll be sure to make the next couple chapters a bit shorter, this one came out to almost thirty pages. More big surprises in the next chapter, so as always, keep reading and reviewing!**


	16. Visitation

Chapter Sixteen: A Meeting with a Monster

"Congratulations Chris. You're my new second in command." Corey said casually, moving for a long drag on his cigarette.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to Connor?" Chris asked.

"He left."

"He just left? Why…?"

"First rule of your new rank, don't ask me too many questions." Corey warned.

"Sorry." Chris looked away. "It's just… something doesn't feel right."

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, I guess." Chris gazed out the dusty window of the ruined building. "I'm just worried about Connor. I can't shake this feeling like… like something's going to happen."

"You should get more sleep." Corey huffed. "Insomnia is a key factor in paranoia."

"_Then you must never sleep."_ Chris muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said you're probably right, sir."

**(Unknown Location – Same Time)**

"Did you really think you could break into our intelligence facility all by yourself?" The cruel voice of Desaad, Darkseid's main servant and a master of torture, hissed.

"What can I say? I'm a big kid now." The victim said through a weak voice. He was shirtless, with his arms and legs held in place by powerful metal locks, holding him like a bloody star in front of Desaad. His torso was covered in bruises, to the point that he looked like a blue and purple rainbow. He raised his head slowly, showing his dark green eyes through his long mess of hair. Connor Queen.

Desaad and Black Mask were in the room as well, Black Mask having been demoted from warden of The Hole to Desaad's personal assistant. "I'll make you a deal, kid. Tell me the location of Corey Jones's hideout, and I'll put you out of your misery." The torturer offered.

"Go forty paces down F Off Street, and turn right on Screw Yourself Boulevard." Connor spat.

"Alright then, have it your way." Desaad smiled. Suddenly, hundreds of small strings shot out from the sides of the machine holding Connor, and bored into his flesh. Connor winced and bit his lip to keep from screaming. The strings latched onto his ribs, and then pulled back with a heavy jerk. Unable to contain it anymore, Connor let out a shriek. "Now, Connor, listen carefully. For every question you fail to answer properly, those wires will retract a little bit more. Eventually, your ribs will be ripped straight out of your body, and you'll die quite painfully." Desaad explained.

"You think you're a real freakin' badass don't you? With your elaborate torture devices and your roid-raged bodyguards, and your secret lairs and all that. You're a regular freakin' Bond villain." Connor grinned through the agony. "But you know what my favorite part about all those movies is? The bad guy gets killed at the end, usually in some horrible explosive way. Oh, and Bond bones some hot chick, I don't mind that part either."

Desaad clapped his hands, and the strings pulled on Connor's ribs again. He let out a surprised shriek, and dropped his gaze to the floor. "Now," Desaad began, "Why don't you tell me what you know?"

"Babies are stronger than oxen."

"What?"

"On a pound for pound basis, babies are quite strong for their size and-" The strings pulled again, breaking Connor off in mid sentence.

"Let's try this again." Desaad growled. "What – do – you – know?"

"Your feet can produce a pint of sweat per day." Another jerk on his ribs.

"Keep it up, boy. We can do this until you're dead."

**(Grodd's Stolen Ship – The Next Day)**

Once Flo had gotten the ship moving, everyone had basically crashed. None of them had slept since freeing Allie from The Hole, and most were craving a good rest. Grodd's ship had been stocked with plenty of canned foods, and there was even a full kitchen with a working stove. That felt good, after eating nothing but the Aquaship's stale leftovers for over a month.

Flo had picked up the ruined Aquaship off the beach before they fled the island, and it was now in the bay on the bottom level of the larger ship, where it sat to rebuild itself.

Now, Flo woke up slowly, still in the cockpit. She had fallen fast asleep in the chair, and let out a yawn as she awoke. "Hello." A voice said behind her. Flo let out a yelp and jumped up out of her seat, spinning around to see the intruder. Quinton stood right behind the chair, looking stunned.

"Did I scare you?"

"No Q, I just do that every time I wake up." Flo rolled her eyes. "Have… have you been watching me sleep?"

"No, I just knew you'd be waking up right about now." Quinton shrugged.

"How did you know that?"

"I've been monitoring your sleeping patterns. You usually sleep on five our intervals, you'll wake up for an hour or so in between and then fall back to sleep. I just adjusted my own sleeping patterns to match that, so that we could spend time together."

"Aw… that's so weird." She laughed. "So how are you feeling, after your poisoning and everything?"

"Pretty well, I think I've mostly recovered. Still a little bit queasy, but I'll live."

"I'm glad." Flo wrapped her arms around Q's neck. "There's too much we haven't gotten to do yet."

She pulled him into a kiss, which lasted a while before Quinton's shirt came off. Flo's was next. She leaned back onto the control panel of the ship, allowing herself to give way under Quinton. And in doing so, she accidentally turned off the auto pilot…

Within minutes the ship collided with a gigantic pile of wreckage from a sunken fleet of ships! The entire ship shook violently, and the team came bursting out of their rooms. Tommy ran down the hall, followed by Troy, Allie, and Ethan. The four of them burst into the captains room to see what had happened, and saw Flo and Quinton… half naked… swallowing each other's tongues.

"Whoa!" Ethan took a step back.

"-Got to be kidding me…" Tommy groaned. Quinton looked up at them awkwardly, and saw Troy give him thumbs up.

"This… this isn't what it looks like?" Quinton tried.

"Put your clothes on, and get out." Tommy grumbled.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Jesse's voice shouted, and the speedster zoomed in wearing nothing but a white pair of boxers, covered in pictures of bananas.

"Bananas? What the hell?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"They glow in the dark too." Jesse stated.

"Of course they do."

"Well we just caught Q and Flo eating each other's faces." Allie said with a grin. "Other than that, you didn't miss anything special Jess."

"Wow, Tommy's going to be pissed." Jesse smiled.

"Yeah, that's a good possibility." Tommy said from the corner, his arms folded. "Jesse, do a quick search of the ship and make sure that little crash didn't put any holes in the walls or anything. Ethan, can you maybe check on Alex and make sure he didn't get loose overnight?"

"Got it." Jesse and Ethan said in unison. Jesse then turned around to sprint down the hall, and Allie noticed that the words 'Bite Me' were written across the back of his banana boxers.

"Oh God." Allie laughed under her breath. Jesse and Ethan then both took off to carry out their orders.

Quinton and Flo came out of the captain's quarters, moving awkwardly. "What the hell?" Were the first words out of Tommy's mouth.

"What? I'm not allowed to like somebody?" Flo folded her arms.

"I don't really care about that. But you could have gotten us all killed! Your little make out session caused us to crash."

"Sorry. I shouldn't have bothered her while she was piloting." Quinton admitted.

"No Q, don't give in!" Flo shouted. "He has no right to tell us we can't be together or-"

"I never said you couldn't!" Tommy barked. "I'm just saying that you can't be stupid about it! When you have a job to do, make sure it gets done, and focus on personal matters later."

"Come on, lighten up Sunshine." Allie said, putting her hand on Tommy's shoulder.

"What if that had happened while we were flying? They could have crashed us into the side of a mountain or something!"

"But we didn't." Flo narrowed her eyes.

"And what if you had? What if you _do_?"

"We won't."

"Q…" Tommy looked to Quinton. "You're the logical one. You must know how stupid this is."

"No Tommy, I don't. In fact I think it's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Quinton stepped forward. "In fact, you were always mean to me when we were living with Dinah. And now that we're on a team like this, you never even talk to me except when you're bossing me around! So I would prefer you just shut up right now!"

"Whoa…" Allie muttered.

"Q-Man grew some balls." Troy laughed.

Tommy stood in place, stunned. Finally, he spoke. "Look Quinton, I'm not trying to be an asshole, but a relationship in a team setting, especially one as shaky as this, is never good for the team as a whole. It winds up causing friction that really doesn't need to be there. Once we're in a setting that's a bit less serious, I don't care what you do. But for now… break it off."

"No."

"Q-" Tommy started to speak, but was interrupted when Quinton punched him square in the face! Tommy's head jerked left and he stumbled back, his lip bloody. He looked first at the blood on his hand, then up at Quinton, who looked just as shocked as anyone else.

"You ok?" Allie asked, stifling a laugh.

"Yes." Tommy smiled disbelievingly. "Quinton… good job."

"What?" Quinton gasped. "You're _congratulating _me because I punched you?"

"You've never been able to really stand up for yourself before. Back in the Justice Cave, you would just let me walk all over you. Now you're fighting back. And if Flo gives you the strength to do that… you have my support."

"Thank you." Quinton nodded, and the two shook hands.

**(Upper Deck - Same Time)**

Jesse had finished his search for leaks in the ship, and was now searching for something different. Fate. He hadn't seen her all morning. Finally, Jesse found the girl sitting on the edge of the ship, her legs dangling freely. The sun was just beginning to rise, and she sat against the radiant orange light like a gothic silhouette. In a blur, Jesse took a seat next to her. "Hey."

"Hi." She said distantly. Jesse saw the bags underneath her eyes.

"What's up with you? It looks like you haven't slept in days."

"I haven't."

"You didn't get any sleep at all last night?"

"No… I, uh… I don't sleep well on boats."

"Sea sickness?"

"Something like that." She said, seeming very vague about it. Jesse couldn't help but think there was something more going on. Then he noticed something even stranger. Her eyes had changed color! They were normally an odd golden color, but now they were a dark purple.

"What's up with your eyes?"

"What about them?"

"They changed color."

"Oh!" She sounded as if Jesse had just uncovered a terrible secret. "It, um… its nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

"It just has to do with the kind of magic that's more dominant in my body." She rattled off quickly. "Remember how I have both orderly and chaotic magic in me? Well when orderly magic is the dominant force; my eyes are a golden-hazel color. When chaos is stronger, they're purple." She sounded as if she were telling the truth, but leaving something out.

Jesse decided not to ask anymore questions about it, knowing how it felt to want to keep something secret. If he gave her time, she would come out with it eventually. "Well, the sunrise is beautiful." He said quickly.

"Yeah."

"Really, really beautiful…" He said in a softer voice, but this time he wasn't looking at the sun. He was looking at the way the sunlight bathed over her body, making her glow like… well, like a star. A star with black clothing and lots of makeup. She didn't seem to notice him staring, she seemed extremely distracted.

Jesse decided to take advantage of this, and lowered his gaze a bit. But what caught his eye wasn't what he was looking for. He saw two different tattoos on her wrists. On her right wrist was a golden tattoo, arranged in perfect symmetry, creating a gorgeous mosaic of lines that intersected in an intricate pattern. The one on her left wrist was purplish-black, and seemed like a more random assortment of lines and symbols and markings, dashed together in bizarre swirl patterns.

At first Jesse wondered why he'd never noticed them before, but then remembered that she normally wore long black gloves, almost up to her elbows, but showed her fingers. He was tempted to ask about the tattoos, but figured it was probably a subject left untouched. She already seemed distressed enough, for some reason.

"So… hey, can I call you Zattina? Calling you Fate all the time makes me feel like I'm talking to a magic 8-ball or something."

"I don't care." She shrugged.

"Cool. I'll probably just call you Z, because it sounds cooler, you know. Z!"

"Yeah."

"Come on, can you please show _some _emotion here?" Jesse begged.

"Sorry…" She sighed.

"Come on, what's bothering you?"

"I can't talk about it."

"You can trust me."

"I know."

"Then why don't you-"

"Jesse! I can't talk about it, ok?" She snapped.

"Sorry, geez." Jesse got to his feet and started to walk away. "I can see this is a bad time."

"Ugh, Jesse! Hold on!" She pleaded. She got to her feet quickly. Too quickly. She lost balance and slipped off the edge of the ship!

"Whoa!" Jesse shouted and literally jumped back to the edge. He launched his arm downward and grabbed the screaming girl's hand. Slowly, he pulled her back up to the deck of the ship. "Be careful! You almost-" Suddenly Jesse was pulled into a kiss from the girl he had just saved.

A moment later, Jesse pulled away, eyes wide. "Wow." He said dumbly. He saw she was crying, and started to say something, but she pulled back too quickly.

"I'm sorry." She said sincerely, and then ran off in tears.

"Fate- uh, Z! Hold on! Sorry for what? It was great! Z?" Jesse called after her, but she was gone. "What the hell?" Jesse shook his head, slipped his hands into his pockets, and walked off mumbling. "I can't be _that _bad of a kisser, right?"

**(Lower Deck – Holding Room - Same Time)**

Ethan opened the door to the room containing Alex Luthor, and stepped inside. Alex sat against the wall, in handcuffs, kicking his feet together and whistling a tune. He looked up at Ethan and smiled. "Sparky! Buddy! Good to see ya'! How's your back healing up?" He asked loudly. Ethan simply stared at him. "You know? Because I shot you in the back?"

"Yeah, I know." Ethan growled. "Then you stuck me to a wall and left me for dead."

"You aren't still mad about that, right?"

"Shut up."

"Ok, maybe you are."

"I was just supposed to make sure you were still here." Ethan said flatly.

"I am. So why are _you_?"

"I need answers about something." Ethan took another step toward Alex.

"And I'd just love to talk to you Ethan. But I'm not into threesomes."

"What?"

"Turn off that comlink you've got wired to Tommy, and I'll be happy to talk."

"How did you even know…?" Ethan pulled out the comlink that was allowing Tommy to listen in on the conversation.

"I know how Tommy thinks." Alex shrugged his shoulders. "He figures I probably won't talk to him, so he sent you here as a mole. Pretty basic cop stuff."

"Fine." Ethan shut off the comlink and tossed it across the room. "Now, I have questions. And you're going to answer to them for me."

"Sure thing, but first I'd like to slip into something more comfortable… hint, hint." Alex shook the handcuffs binding him.

"Go to hell. I'm not taking those handcuffs off."

"Then I'm not talking."

"Then you're not getting food tonight."

"Well that's just downright cruel." Alex frowned. "Fine, then. What did you want to know?"

Ethan knelt down in front of Alex, and looked him in the eyes. "You weren't the traitor, were you?"

"You're asking the guy who openly betrayed you if he's a traitor? That's a stupid question!"

"I mean _the _traitor. The one feeding information to Apokolips." Ethan explained. "That wasn't you, was it?"

"Well now what would I possibly have to gain from doing that?"

"Give me a straight answer. Yes or no?"

"Look, you leave the handcuffs on, you get vague answers. That's how this is gonna work."

"Fine." Ethan narrowed his eyes. He placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, and sent a surge of electricity through his body.

"Ah- shit!" Alex shouted before Ethan pulled away. "What the hell man? You never electrocute the person you're trying to interrogate; it gets their brain all fuzzy and dull!"

"Were you giving Apokolips information, or weren't you?"

"No, I wasn't. Are you happy now?"

"Almost. Do you know who _was _giving them information?"

"Well if I told you that, the game wouldn't be any fun to watch." Alex grinned. Ethan shocked him again, harder this time.

"Do you know, or not?"

"I have a hunch."

"Who?"

There was a moment of silence. Finally, Alex leaned in and looked into Ethan's eyes. "Who do _you _think?"

"You mean-" Ethan began to speak, but Alex jutted his head the rest of the way forward and smashed his forehead into Ethan's nose! Blood spurted, and Ethan fell backward. Alex dodged around him and flung back his arms, wrapping the chain between the handcuffs around Ethan's neck! Alex then spun around, putting Ethan in front, but still choking him.

Alex burst out into the hallway and kicked a fire alarm down, causing the alarm to blare. Tommy, Allie, Quinton, Flo and Troy all came running into the hall to see what had happened, and saw Alex with Ethan as his hostage. Ethan was already turning blue from lack of air.

"Let him go!" Tommy demanded.

"Give me the key, and I will."

"Damn it Alex I'll-"

"What? You'll watch your friend suffocate, and then jump in and try to beat me up again? I'd advise against that plan Thomas." Alex smiled.

"Fine." Tommy grudgingly pulled the key to the handcuffs from his belt, and slid it across the floor to Alex. Using his toes, Alex flipped the key up and caught it in his mouth. Then he craned his neck down and unlocked the handcuffs. He pushed Ethan to the ground, barely conscious.

"Thank you very much, sir."

"Take him down!" Tommy shouted, and everyone moved for their weapons, but Alex moved faster. He smashed the glass case holding a fire extinguisher, and whipped it down the hall at Tommy! Then he threw the key like a dart with pinpoint accuracy, and pierced the tank. A shroud of foam and water sprayed throughout the hall, blinding everyone. By the time it cleared, Alex was gone.

"Want us to split up and try to find him?" Allie suggested.

"No, I already know where he's headed." Tommy shook his head. "He's after his tech."

**(Middle Deck – Two Minutes Later)**

Jesse was walking back to find Quinton, his mind racing over what had just happened between he and Fate. What _had _happened? Jesse wasn't even sure. He was so lost in thought that he was hardly even aware of the fire alarm blaring. But then he was snapped out of his trance when Alex Luthor came sprinting down the hall and bashed Jesse in the chest! Jesse coughed hard, the breathe leaving his body. Alex reached into his Jesse's jacket pocket, and pulled out his EMP Gauntlet.

"This belongs to me." Alex shoved Jesse into the wall and put the gauntlet back on his arm. Tommy, Allie, Quinton, Troy and Flo came running down the hall, but Alex fired the EMP Gauntlet into the mechanism controlling the automatic sliding doors in the middle of the hall.

The doors began to malfunction, and slid tightly shut, separating Alex from the heroes. Tommy tried to break the glass on the doors, but found that it was bulletproof, and very difficult to shatter. Alex then kicked down the doorway into the room that held his jacket, outfitted with his magnetism circuitry!

Alex slid the jacket back on just as the C4 Tommy had planted went off, destroying the automatic doors separating them! The heroes ran to surround Alex, but it was too late. He touched the large glass window on the wall of the room, magnetized it, and repelled it outwards! Alex then magnetized himself to the glass, and it pulled him straight through the opening.

With a goodbye wave to Tommy, Alex flipped over in the air so that was over the window like a raft, and then splashed down into the water. Tommy ran to the edge of the ship and searched for any sign of him, but Alex was long gone. "Damn it!" Tommy spun and drove his fist into the wall. _He always beats me! _Tommy thought angrily. _Always._

"How did that even happen?" Jesse shouted, rubbing the bruise on his head from where he had hit the wall.

"Alex strangled Ethan with his handcuffs and used him as a hostage." Allie explained.

"Wait, Ethan got strangled and I missed it! That sucks!" Jesse threw up his arms.

"Jesse will you shut up please? We just lost Alex again!" Tommy shouted as he approached the group.

"Dude, what happened to your lip?" Jesse asked, seeing where it had slowly.

"Quinton punched him." Flo said with a smile.

"Whoa, _what_?" Jesse froze. He looked at Quinton with a smile. "You punched Tommy?"

"Yeah." Quinton nodded.

"Damn it! I missed _everything _good today!"

**(Grayven's Ship)**

Grayven in his chair, still reeling from his quick defeat at The Hole. He had now been assigned to Kalibak's hit squad, and taking orders from Kalibak had not been a fun experience.

From the other room he heard Slitheron, one of the ship's techs, speaking to Kalibak. "You may want to see this sir." Slitheron hissed in his reptilian voice. "We've been assigned a new target."

"I know about the target. What are you showing me?" Kalibak grunted. Grayven noted to himself that 'showing' was a pretty big word for the brute.

"This is footage of the target, sir. It attacked a research lab on Earth last night. Survivors say they'd never fought anything like it before, it tore through all their defenses with barely a struggle." Slitheron said.

Now Grayven was interested. Something on Earth had destroyed an Apokoliptian research lab single handedly? What could possibly be _that _powerful? Grayven got up and peered into the room, where Slitheron was showing Kalibak the footage.

The video was of a beast with dark brownish-yellow skin. It had horns, and blazing purple eyes. It was bulky, yet still remarkably fast. The beast tore through swarms of parademons with literally no trouble! It released bursts of flame from its mouth, burning them away with ease.

The creature destroyed everything in its path; it was like nothing Grayven had ever seen before. This was the kind of creature that was powerful to go toe-to-toe with Darkseid himself! Then Grayven noticed something odd about the creature. It had a tattoo on its left arm. It wound all the way up the arm, a purplish-black tattoo consisting of chaotic symbols splashed together in spirals. He had seen this tattoo before… and he knew exactly where.

"It looks like good sport." Kalibak huffed. "I can't wait to kill it!"

"Yes. Lord Darkseid says to make this beast our second priority, however." Slitheron hissed. "First, we are to destroy the children forming this rebellion on Earth."

"Very well." Kalibak said.

Grayven pulled away with a smile. _Funny. _He thought. _They don't even know they'll be killing two birds with one stone. Or that I'll be killing three._

**(Grodd's Stolen Ship – Later that Day)**

"So I'm guessing you aren't in the mood to talk?" Allie asked.

"No." Tommy sat on the foot of his bed.

"Just like old times." Allie rolled her eyes. "Come on Sunshine, talk to me." She sat next to him.

"Allie I said no."

"And I said I don't care." She grinned and brushed a strand of blond hair out of her face. "Yeah, Alex is a problem but-"

"Allie I do not want to talk it, alright?" Tommy snapped.

"Fine." She recoiled a little, and got up to leave. She pulled open the door, and slammed it behind her.

_I'm not strong enough. _Tommy thought. _I'm no match for Alex… he outsmarts me every time, and beats me in every fight. _He gazed out the window of his room. _And if I'm not strong enough to beat Alex, how the hell do I beat Darkseid?_

Out in the hall, after slamming the door to Tommy's room on the ship, Allie saw Troy leaned against the wall next to the door. "Were you listening to all that?"

"Just trying to figure some things out." Troy said casually.

"Like what?"

"What you are to Tommy."

"Meaning…?"

"My brother thinks pretty highly of you. That's all." Troy shrugged.

"Really?" Allie asked quickly, sounding hopeful. She looked back at the door.

"Yeah. He told me you're like a sister to him."

"A sister." Allie's voice dropped. "He said that?"

"Yeah. As much as he talked about you, I thought there might be something more at first. But I talked to him about it, and he told me all about how he thinks of you like a sister." Troy told her casually.

"Oh." Allie seemed a bit disheartened.

"You seem bothered by something. Anything I can help with?" He asked.

"Oh, its nothing." Allie said quickly, plastering on a fake smile.

"Sure?"

"You're pretty friendly, aren't you?"

"I just like to know the people close to me." Troy grinned. "And I feel like I don't know you."

"That could be due to the fact that we haven't actually ever talked." Allie smiled.

"That is very possible." Troy laughed. "You want to grab some lunch or something? Get to know each other a bit?"

"Sure." Allie agreed. The two then headed down the hall. But when Allie started to turn toward the pantry, Troy stopped her.

"Come with me." He said, and began to walk up the stairs.

"I thought we were getting lunch?"

"We are."

"Then why are you walking in the opposite direction of where the food is?"

"Because if I have to each another stupid can of beans or whatever, I'm going to kill myself." Troy laughed. "We're getting food a different way."

When the two reached the upper deck, there was a table set up, with two bows on it. One was Allie's bow, she recognized that quickly. The other was forged out of the same material as Troy's wristbands, and came with its own glistening arrows.

"Where did you get that?" Allie inquired.

"I worked a little Atlantean Perfect Armor magic. Or at least, I had Flo do it." Troy said as he handed Allie her bow, which looked as if it had recently been polished.

"I'm beginning to suspect that you had this planned out." Allie smiled.

"What gave it away?" Troy laughed.

"So this still doesn't explain how we're getting food. What are we going to hunt Jesse or something?"

"Well as fun as that sounds, no. You see, we're heading into the coldest months now, so flocks of birds are going to be flying north." Troy looked up toward the sky, and pointed to a large V shape coming their way. "We drop a couple birds, and we've got a meal."

"Killing birds? Not exactly the most common way of getting to know someone." Allie laughed.

"Well, I figured the best way to get to know you would be doing something you love. And I know how much you love archery, as well watching your arrows burrow into living flesh, so…"

_"Right." _Allie laughed. "So one more question. Was this all put together so that you could get know me, or _get to know me_?"

"Well, it depends on how you want to interpret it. Although you are extremely beautiful, and funny and smart and cool and all that… but, you know. Your interpretation."

"It's a date." Allie smiled. They raised their bows into the air, took aim, and unleashed upon the flock of birds! They both dropped a bird on the first shot, and they came crashing down onto the deck of the ship. Troy was quick to make sure both were dead, not wanting to let them suffer. "You're pretty good." Allie pointed out.

"Well, I am an Amazon. Sort of." Troy laughed. The two of them repeated this a few times, until they had a decent meal for the whole team. Troy then went to get a garbage bag to carry them all to the kitchen in.

While he was gone, Jesse zoomed up next to Allie. "What the hell are you doing with him?" Jesse hissed.

"Who? Troy?"

"Yes! _Him!_"

"We just wanted to hang out." Allie shrugged.

"Oh that's just great." Jesse rolled his eyes. "Might as well be hanging out with Darkseid for crying out loud!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You saw Troy at the campfire the other night! The dude was vicious! He was like, antagonizing Fate!"

"Jesse, we were all tired and a little on edge. Troy's a nice guy." Allie reasoned.

"Yeah, that's the problem! He grew up killing for sport, Allie! That isn't how nice guys grow up!" Jesse spouted.

"Jesse you're being paranoid. Troy's cool."

"Oh my God… he's gotten to you." Jesse shook his head.

"Are you feeling alright Jess? You seem even more spazzy than normal." Allie laughed.

"No, actually I'm freaking out right now, thank you." Jesse sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Promise you won't tell anybody?"

"Promise."

"Fate… she kissed me this morning."

"Oh. So what's the problem… afraid you have cooties or something?" Allie grinned.

"No, it's not that! The kiss itself was awesome. It's what it means that bugs me."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, do you like her?"

"Well yeah. But Allie I like anything with boobs. That's not the point here." Jesse paced back and forth. "The point is it probably means she likes me."

"Well there's the deduction of the year. Good job Sherlock."

"Yeah, and when I think about her its not like, my normal 'like,' you know? I think about more than just how hot she is, I think about other stuff too, like how cool she is."

"You like her Jesse." Allie smiled.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I do."

"So go for it! What's stopping you?"

"Well… that's the reason I needed to talk to you." Jesse said uncomfortably.

"What?"

"Allie… I think about you the same way."

There was a long silence, both of them just looking at each other. "Oh." Allie said somewhat uncomfortably.

"Back when this all began, it felt like you and I had some real chemistry, you no?" Jesse began. "Like, before you went to The Hole and stuff. I thought we really had something. So... so Allie, I need to know… do we have a chance? Is there any chance at all that we can be… you know… together?"

More silence. Allie seemed lost in thought.

"Jesse…" She sighed. "I thought so too. When we first met, there were definitely sparks. But then I went to The Hole, and while I was there, being tortured and practically starved… all I could think about… was Tommy. And I realized that my crush on you, it was just because you were the first person who I'd ever met, other than Tommy, Q, and my mom, who I'd known my whole life. You were the first person I ever found who wasn't a familiar face, and that was exciting. So yeah, I was drawn to you… but I was more drawn to the idea of a new person."

"Oh. So I was your new toy." Jesse looked away.

"No, it wasn't like that! It's just…"

"I know what you meant." Jesse gave a light smile, but there was still sadness in his eyes. "You love Tommy. I get it."

"Yeah. But… it doesn't like that's ever going to happen." Allie dropped her gaze. "I'm just a sister to him."

"Well isn't that southern." Jesse joked, but his heart wasn't in it for once.

"Jesse, I do love you. As a friend. My best friend." Allie said sincerely.

"I guess I can live with that." Jesse nodded, equally sincere. "But, you know, for old times sake, maybe we should-" Without another word, Allie kissed him. It was brief and simple, and they pulled away pretty quickly, but Jesse was left with a dumb grin on his face nonetheless.

"That was for old time's sake." Allie smiled. "Friends?"

"Friends." Jesse agreed. Then he turned to go look for Fate.

**(Stairwell – A moment earlier)**

Fate had been looking for Jesse. She wanted to apologize for running off like she did. And maybe even tell Jesse the truth…

But as she neared the top of the stairwell leading onto the main deck, she Jesse and Allie standing near a table… kissing. Fate's heart sunk, and her spirit crushed. After pulling away, Jesse and Allie were saying something, but Fate couldn't tell what. She didn't care. She just wanted to get away. She turned around to head back down the stairs, but collided with Troy, carrying a garbage bag.

They both nearly fell down the stairs, but Troy regained his balance quickly and caught her, stopping her fall. "You ok?" He asked.

"No." She said weakly.

"Hey… what's wrong?" Troy asked in a soft voice.

"Nothing."

"You sound like you're going to cry. That isn't over nothing."

"Just go away." Fate snapped.

"Alright." Troy sighed. "I should probably get back to Allie anyway."

"She was just kissing Jesse you know."

"What?" Troy froze. "Oh… I get it now." He put his hand on Fate's shoulder. "I'm sorry. But hey, Jesse probably wasn't worth your time anyway. You can do better."

Fate said nothing.

"Listen…" Troy continued. "I'm glad I caught you. I wanted to apologize for being such a dick the other night…"

"Yeah, you were a dick." Fate agreed.

"I just… I saw you and Jesse practicing by the river, and I figured out what was going on. You can't control your powers very well, right?" Troy asked kindly. She shook her head slowly. "When I figured that out, I was a little bit mad that you didn't tell us right away, so that we knew what to expect, you know? Plus I was tired, and hungry… I really over reacted, and I'm sorry about the stuff I said to you."

"It's ok." Fate nodded.

"And listen…" Troy began. "Jesse, he may have broken your heart. But that's his loss. I think he blew the best chance in the world."

"Really?" Fate asked.

"Yeah." Troy nodded. "I mean, you're extremely beautiful, and funny and smart and cool. He'd have been lucky to have your attention."

"Thanks Troy." Fate smiled.

"Of course." He smiled back. "And you know, I used to have trouble controlling my powers too. I couldn't turn my truth touch off. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I just don't want to disappoint anyone." Fate looked to the floor.

"What if I helped you control your powers? I'd be a better teacher than Jesse anyway. And Fate… you could never disappoint me. Ever. I'm here for you." He lifted up her chin and looked deeply into her eyes. "I'll never criticize you for anything."

"Promise?"

"I swear."

**(Pantry – Fifteen Minutes Later)**

"Hey Q, you seen Fate anywhere?" Jesse asked.

"No. Why?" Quinton asked back.

"Oh… uh, nothing important." Jesse shrugged. Then he snatched the bag of potato chips right out of Quinton's hand.

"Hey! I was eating that!" Quinton shouted.

"I've won king of the pantry today. It's rightfully mine." Jesse explained through a full mouth.

"How did _you _win king of the pantry?"

"I've kissed two different girls today!" Jesse bragged. "I think that earns me a sufficient amount of king points."

"Oh yeah, well I punched Tommy in the face _and _I got to second base with Flo earlier." Quinton smiled. "_Plus _I figured out what the baseball references mean when talking about sex! So I think all together, that earns me _way _more king points than you!"

"Fine." Jesse said after a moment of thought. "We're tied. We can both rule the pantry today."

"Fair enough."

"Yup. After all, every king needs a queen." Jesse smiled.

"I agree, your heiness." Quinton shot back.

"No way man! You are totally the queen!"

"No, you're the queen! You are way more feminine than me!"

"You're one to talk, bitch tits!"

"Maybe you're just an anorexic, flat chested queen."

"Maybe you're a fat know-it-all queen!"

Suddenly the door swung open, and Flo looked inside. "Guys, we're almost to shore. Get ready to head toward Corey's hideout." She announced.

"We'll continue this conversation later." Quinton said to Jesse. Then he walked over and kissed Flo.

"Lesbian!" Jesse shouted.

"Slut!" Quinton shouted back.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Flo raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing dear."

**(Corey's Hideout – One Hour Later)**

The team arrived outside the abandoned Cadmus building. The walk to Corey's hideout had been an extremely awkward one. Tommy was silent, still brooding over his loss to Alex. Allie seemed upset about something, but wouldn't let on as to what it was. Jesse and Quinton were arguing over who was more queenly, and Flo was trying to figure out what was going on with them. Ethan remained silent, still a bit bothered by how easily Alex had taken him down earlier. And Fate seemed apprehensive. Jesse had tried to talk to her a few times, but she seemed angry at him, and he absolutely no idea why.

And Troy just remained casual, as usual. But the tensions among the team had never been greater.

Tommy pounded on the door, and a camera came peering out of the wall, looking right at them. "Tommy?" Chris's voice asked through a speaker.

"Yeah, it's us. We need to talk to Corey." Tommy responded.

"Alright, I'll open the door." Chris said. The sound of a mechanism coming unlocked could be heard, and Tommy was able to push the door open. The building seemed empty at first glance, covered in cobwebs and dust.

"Quinton, where to?" Tommy asked.

"They'll probably be in the basement." Q answered. They moved over to a broken elevator, the hatch in the floor wide open. One by one, they all crawled through the hatch and slid down the elevator cable. They touched down at the bottom floor, and Ethan pried the doors open. Immediately, the small space was filled with the smell of gunpowder.

The team stepped out into the large Cadmus basement, where Corey's army stood around drinking coffee and chatting up, surrounded by tables full of weaponry! Corey approached them from the far side of the room, a cynical look on his face. "I thought we were going to keep in touch? And what's with that big ass ship I saw on the cameras? Are you _trying _to be captured?"

"We had a bit of a delay." Tommy held out the broken communicator Corey had given him. "And the ship is temporary. It's just until the Aquasub is ready for use again."

"You were probably followed here." Corey grumbled.

"I checked." Fate snapped.

"The ship was cloaked most of the time anyway." Tommy added.

"Fine." Corey huffed, blowing a smoke ring. "So what brings you guys here?"

"A Kryptonian." Quinton said.

"A _what_?"

"There's a Kryptonian being held in a hidden lower basement here at this facility. It's in a cryogenic stasis." Q responded.

"That's ridiculous."

"It's the truth."

"Kid, I had this entire facility searched high and low. Every inch of this building was looked with every piece of scanning tech in my arsenal. If there was some hidden room, don't you think I'd know about it?" Corey stated.

In response, Quinton walked over to the far side of the room, placed his hand on one of the cement bricks making up the walls, and uttered the phrase, "Project Last Light." Suddenly, the brick sunk into the wall, and the grooves between all of the bricks lit up with a bright blue glow.

"What the hell?" Corey grumbled. The bricks began to fold in, revealing a steel doorway behind them, with a keypad instead of a handle. Quinton pressed in a quick code, and the door slid open, leading to a long staircase.

Quinton turned around and glared at Corey. "I guess your scanning tech didn't pick this up." Quinton grinned triumphantly.

"Fair enough." Corey lit up another cigarette. "So you're telling me there's a Kryptonian down there?"

"Yup."

"Like Apokolips would actually just leave it there!"

"Actually, they put it there."

"Are we going to stand here talking about it, or are we going to look?" Tommy encouraged.

"Ok, let's get a move on." Corey nodded. Tommy, Quinton, Allie, Jesse, Troy, Flo, Ethan, Fate, Corey and Chris took off down the stairwell. Once they reached the bottom, it was pitch black. Corey used his lighter as a lantern, so Troy could find a light switch and flip it on.

Most of the lights flickered to life along the ceiling, revealing a massive, incredibly sterile white room. There were hundreds of tables littered with beakers and test tubes, and rows of computers littered the walls. And in the center of the room, was what looked like a tanning bed. A large, white, very expensive tanning bed. Slowly they all moved toward the device.

A loud noise rang out from behind. Jesse looked back and noticed two glass pods along the back wall, now open. "Hey guys, weren't those pod things closed when we first came down here?"

"I don't know." Chris shrugged.

"Probably just your imagination." Tommy reasoned, and they kept walking.

They all circled around the device that looked like a tanning bed. The glass on top was fogged up to the point where nothing could be seen. Jesse touched his palm to the glass, and began vibrating his body to create friction. The heat from the friction warmed away the fog, and a figure slowly came into view inside the capsule.

He was dressed in all white, with smooth fair skin, and bright, messy hair so blond it was almost white. It had grown down over his eyes, which were closed tightly. He looked peaceful. And young. It came as a shock to everyone that this boy appeared no older than thirteen!

Then there was a rustling off to the side, and what sounded like a giggle. "What was that?" Jesse perked up.

"Don't know." Tommy said cautiously.

"I'll check it out." Troy whispered. He put one hand on his sword, ready to draw at any moment, and moved toward the pile of boxes that the noise had come from. He peered over slowly, expecting the worst. Suddenly there was a bright red blur, and a face jumped up to greet his.

"Boo!"

"Ah!" Troy let out a cry and fell backward. A small boy with fiery red hair leapt out from behind the boxes, cackling like a maniac.

"I got you good, loser!" He boy gloated. He was wearing a red and white bodysuit similar to the all white one that the boy in the capsule wore.

"Who the hell is that?" Corey looked to Quinton.

"I don't know."

"My name is Prometheus. I go by Prome." The kid said nonchalantly, folding his arms behind his head. This boy couldn't have been more than ten years old old.

Another boy stepped out from behind the boxes. He looked identical to the first one, except that his hair and eyes were blue, while Prome's were red.

"This is starting to look like an Anime or something." Jesse whispered to Quinton.

"Yeah, this is pretty creepy." Q whispered back.

"What's _your _name?" Allie asked the blue-haired child sweetly.

"Khione. But I go by Kio." He said coolly.

"Who are you little kids?" Corey demanded.

"Who are you big kids?" Prome asked, equally demanding.

"Don't be a jerk! We don't want to scare them off!" Kio yelled to his twin.

"Why not?" Prome snapped.

"Because we never get any company down here, and I'm really sick of talking to just you!" Kio yelled back.

"What's so wrong with me blue head?" Prome yelled.

"Lots of stuff!" Kio yelled back. Prome then shoved his blue haired duplicate, prompting Kio to tackle him to the ground. The two wrestled for dominance, shouting insults at each other as they did so.

"What is going on here?" Flo asked.

"I've got no idea." Quinton shook his head.

"Ignore them; they don't seem to be a threat." Tommy decided. He looked back to the blond boy in the capsule. "How do we wake him up?"

"Oh, he won't wake up." Kio said suddenly.

"Yeah, we've tried lots of times." Prome added.

"He's like sleeping beauty." Kio pointed out.

"I bet you want to give him a kiss!" Prome taunted.

"Shut up!" Kio tackled him again, and the two continued fighting.

"This is way too weird." Chris grumbled.

"Yeah, how have these kids even survived down here?" Allie asked.

"They probably came out of those weird pods!" Jesse pointed to the open containers.

"We'll figure it all out later. For now, let's focus on getting sleeping beauty up." Tommy said.

"I think I can disable that locking mechanism, the code is probably the same as the one I used to open the door." Quinton reasoned, and moved over to the keypad.

Suddenly there was a thundering noise, and a Boom Tube opened up on the other side of the room!

"Oh shit!" Corey growled, and took a step back.

"Come on! Not now!" Tommy growled.

The Boom Tube swirled open, and a single figure stepped out. A figure who cast an incredibly ominous, terrifying presence. He was almost eight feet tall, and muscular. His body was an ashy black, and he wore a tunic of the same color. And his eyes shown with a dark, crimson red.

"Oh no…" Troy muttered.

"No way!" Corey stammered.

"Wait a minute…" Chris started uneasily. "Is that…?"

"Darkseid." Tommy stated.

"Wait, what?" Jesse shouted nervously. "Darkseid? Here? As in, evil Lord of Apokolips Darkseid?"

"That's the one." Troy nodded grimly.

"We are so screwed." Ethan grumbled.

Darkseid, the lord of evil in the universe, stepped out onto the concrete with an air of superiority. The Boom Tube closed behind him, and he eyed the team with complete indifference.

"What are you doing here? Finally run out of parademons to throw at us?" Tommy said with false confidence, trying to hide his shaking hands.

"Hardly." Darkseid said in his booming voice. A sophisticated, but undeniably evil. "I simply wanted to see my new enemies in person." He looked them over one more time. "Much less than I expected. And I wasn't expecting much."

"Tommy, this is bad. We cannot beat him." Troy whispered to his brother.

"I know." Tommy whispered back. "I'm trying to come up with an exit strategy."

"Amusing. You rodents actually believe you can outwit me." Darkseid acknowledged. "But I suppose now that I have you in my grasp… I'll kill you where you stand."


	17. Destroyer

Chapter Seventeen: Destroyer

Tommy, Troy, Allie, Quinton, Flo, Ethan, Chris, Jesse, Fate, and Corey stood frozen, gazing at the destroyer before them. Darkseid, in all his might, had arrived. Tommy did his best to look confident, but he couldn't keep his hands from shaking. The atmosphere around Darkseid… it felt like death. Just being in his presence cast a wave of overwhelming fear, and instilled his victim with a sense of complete insignificance.

"I'll be merciful." Darkseid said after a moment. "You make the first move."

"Q… how fast can you get that chamber open?" Tommy asked quietly.

"Longer than I thought. It's a complex system of variation locks and-"

"Give me a timeframe Q!"

"Ten minutes." Quinton said with some uncertainty in his tone.

"Think we can hold him off ten minutes?" Tommy asked, looking to Troy.

"Probably not." His brother answered honestly. "But we might as well try."

"Are you insane?" Corey whispered harshly. "We can't fight him! We have to-"

"We have to do what we can." Tommy interrupted. "If we try running he'll kill us all on the spot."

"He'll do that anyway!"

"You are beginning to test my patience." Darkseid warned, an edge in his powerful voice.

"Yeah guys do something! Come on!" Kio, the small blue-haired boy, yelled loudly.

"Screw them! Let me do it!" Prome, the red haired boy, interjected. Prome then took off in a sprint toward Darkseid!

"Hey, kid! Wait!" Tommy called.

Prome threw up his hands, and his fists burst into flames! The small boy unleashed a torrent of fire onto Darkseid's body, engulfing the evil lord in an inferno! But when the shroud of flame finally cleared, Darkseid stood unharmed.

"Oh come on! What a rip off!" Prome shouted.

"Let me try!" Kio yelled. He then held out his arms toward Darkseid, and released a flare of blue light. The light struck Darkseid dead on, and in seconds he had been encased in ice! However, the villain came smashing out of the icy cascade with ease.

"How disappointing." He stated. Then a baterang came sailing in from behind, having been thrown by Tommy while Darkseid was distracted. The baterang clashed into the back of Darkseid's head and exploded, creating a shroud of smoke. Tommy moved in with his knife before the smoke cleared, hoping to do at least some damage. But in mid slash, Darkseid clasped onto Tommy's arm, and crushed so hard that Tommy could hear his bones begin to crack under stress. The pain was immense. Tommy dropped the knife and sent his feet into Darkseid's chest, having little effect whatsoever. The dark lord raised his arm and flung Tommy across the room!

Tommy smashed into a glass pod and shattered through, the glass slicing deep into his flesh. Then, in a bloody mess, Tommy hit the concrete wall behind the pod and felt ribs break. He slid to the floor in agony, unable to contain his screams.

"Oh my God…" Allie gasped, shaking as she looked at Tommy's blood begin to pool around him.

"Weakling." Darkseid uttered. "And I was told you were the biggest threat out of this group. I suppose that says little for the rest of you."

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" Allie knocked an arrow in her bow and fired at Darkseid's head. Darkseid reacted with blinding speed and grabbed the projectile out of the air. He easily snapped the arrow in two and threw it aside.

He looked up to see Troy falling down at him with his sword drawn! Darkseid pulled back his fist and fired it up into Troy's chest with alarming speed! Troy went smashing through the room's tiled ceiling, leaving a gaping hole where a light panel had previously been. Jesse came around in a blur while Allie pelted Darkseid with more arrows, and the speedster attempted take Darkseid down with a blast of powerful vibration. Darkseid, however unleashed twin purple steams of light from his eyes… his Omega Beams!

Jesse doubled back and attempted to dodge the blasts, but the Omega Beams curved to the left and followed Jesse! The speedster took off as fast as he could run, the beams trailing just behind him, and began sprinting through the building trying to lose them!

Chris took his all metal form and leapt forward, while Ethan unleashed a surge of electricity into Chris, supercharging his metallic body! Chris morphed his arm into a spiked mace, and swung at Darkseid! The villain blocked the hammer with one hand, the electricity surging through him with no effect, and kicked Chris through the back wall! Then, in a blur, Darkseid was behind Ethan and pounded him into the floor. Fate blasted the villain with bolts of magic energy, but it seemed only a minor annoyance to him, and when she tried to concentrate and cast a more powerful spell, Darkseid grabbed her by the hair and smashed her against a wall!

Fate bled from her face as he smashed her into the floor and stomped on her chest, plowing six feet into the concrete! Corey tried to push into Darkseid's mind and take him down mentally, but as soon as he did this, Corey found that Darkseid's metal strength was unimaginable! Corey let out a pained shriek, and his mind felt as if it had been lit on fire! Corey fell to his knees, his skin starting to simmer as Darkseid's mind burned him away!

Corey started to shape shift randomly, his screams uninterrupted by the constant, uncontrollable shift in his appearance. Corey hit the floor clutching his scalp, and Darkseid fired his Omega Beams. Just before they made contact with the young half-Martian, he phased through the floor. The Omega Beams blasted into the tiles, throwing up a shroud of smoke. Corey floated up behind Darkseid and moved to phase his hand through the villain's chest, hoping to find organs to crush, but Darkseid simply released a mental wave of pain.

Corey doubled over again, and involuntarily reverted back to solid form, in which Darkseid kicked him across the room! Flo attempted to electrocute the villain, but Darkseid simply backhanded her and sent her spiraling into the staircase. Darkseid then spied Quinton, still trying to open the capsule holding the Kryptonian. "A clever attempt, but inevitably unsuccessful." Darkseid stated, and then moved to attack Quinton!

Allie blasted Darkseid with a powerful sonic scream, and the villain actually stumbled back, giving a pained grunt. He glared at Allie with clear anger. "Impressive power, girl." Darkseid admitted. "Pity you passed up the opportunity to become a Fury. Under my tutelage, you could have been the most powerful being in the universe. But instead, you'll be another corpse. Darkseid moved toward her. She let out another scream, but he plowed through it, barely even slowing down! He grabbed onto Allie struck her in the face, drawing blood. Darkseid then raised her into the air, and started to charge up his Omega Beams, ready to fire at point blank range…

Tommy wobbled to his feet, still bleeding from his wounds and clutching his fractured arm. He couldn't stand up straight, due to the injuries in his ribs. Then he saw Darkseid preparing to kill Allie!

"No!" Tommy's rage began to boil, and strangely, he could practically feel his healing accelerate. He took off toward Darkseid with speed that was surprising even to him, and struck the arm holding Allie hard enough that he Darkseid's ashy skin began to split! Darkseid let go of Allie, and to his surprise, Tommy spun around remarkably fast and drove a punch into his jaw! Darkseid flipped backward, but was on his feet quickly. As soon as he was, Tommy punched him in the midriff, knocking him back. Then Tommy dodged around one of Darkseid's strikes, grabbed his shoulder, and flung Darkseid straight through a wall! Darkseid rolled several feet into the next room, and got up glaring.

"Impressive. Perhaps I underestimated your abilities." Darkseid walked forward as if nothing had even happened. "But they are still no match for mine."

"How much longer Q?" Tommy asked loudly.

"Give me five more minutes!" Quinton shouted desperately, working as fast as his mind would allow. Tommy looked around at his friends, and saw that he was the only one still standing, other than Jesse, who was still running from the Omega Beams trailing him. Tommy realized his arm had almost completely healed already, and his ribs were beginning to feel better. Many of the gashes on his body had already closed. His advanced healing had kicked in, as well as his strength and speed... all the traits he had inherited from his mother. He had no idea how he'd made it happen, but he as thankful it did.

Tommy cracked his knuckles and looked at Darkseid with a grin. "I can do five minutes."

"Dude, you're like a superhero!" Prome suddenly yelled. The red haired boy came running up to Tommy's side, followed by Kio.

"You were so cool just a second ago! Hit him some more!" Kio shouted.

"Actually, let me try again! We figured out a strategy!" Prome added.

"Oh yeah, the strategy!" Kio nodded. The two then rushed toward Darkseid!

"Hey, wait!" Tommy called after them, but it was too late. Kio unleashed a wave of ice at Darkseid, with had no effect. Darkseid smashed through easily, and flung a punch at Kio. The young boy actually ducked down below the punch, however, and slid between Darkseid's legs! He then froze the ground behind the villain. Before Darkseid could begin to figure out what was happening, Prome leapt in the air, ignited his body in a wave of fire, and spun down at Darkseid like a blazing, spinning meteor! Darkseid held up his arms to block, and when Prome's attack struck him, it would have had almost no effect… except for the slick icy ground behind Darkseid, left by Kio!

Prome was able to push Darkseid quickly across the icy floor, and smashed him into the concrete wall! Prome continued to spin, and continued to blaze, and when he finally leapt off, Darkseid's body was a charred, smoldering mess!

"Yeah!" Prome and Kio high-fived. "I call that one Prome's Ring O' Fire Icy Deluxe!"

Darkseid lumbered forward, and soot fell off of his body. In a blur, he grabbed Kio and smashed him into Prome, hurling the two of them violently across the room! He then looked to Tommy to continue their fight, and Tommy flung a punch at him.

Darkseid blocked this time, and crushed Tommy's fist! He then kicked Tommy, sending him soaring. He flipped backward, sprung off his hand, and was able to land on his feet. Darkseid then unleashed his Omega Beams. Tommy began sprinting away from the beams, knowing full well what they were capable of, but knew he couldn't out run them. Instead, he fired his grapple up into the rafters of the room, and was pulled upward at high speed. The beams curved upward and continued to chase him.

Tommy threw an explosive baterang upward, striking one of the heavy steel rafters. The explosion caused the rafter to be severed from the ceiling, and came falling down toward Tommy! It closed in from the front, as the Omega Beams closed in from the back. At the last moment, Tommy flung his legs forward and kicked the rafter, causing one end to flip upward, which in turn flipped the other end downward… and the downward end crashed into the Omega Beams!

There was an enormous explosion, shaking the room, and when the smoke cleared, Tommy was standing on top of a damaged support beam sticking downward from the ceiling. And he glared down at Darkseid triumphantly.

"Only one other being has ever avoided my Omega Beams before…" Darkseid stated. "You truly are your father's son."

"No." Tommy requited. "I'm Dick Grayson's son. Bruce Wayne's creation. And I was created for one reason…" Tommy leapt down from the beam and sailed toward Darkseid. "To kick your ass!" He ignited the rocket boosters in his boots, and tackled Darkseid, pushing him several feet across the room. Then he flipped backward grinned. "But I have a serious problem with authority… so instead of doing what Bruce wanted… I'm going to let him do it." Tommy pointed toward the capsule, and Darkseid glanced back as well.

Quinton had finally deactivated the lock, and the door slowly pressed open. The blond Kryptonian boy sat up slowly, looking around in a confused manner. "Whoa. Looks like I missed a party or something." He muttered tiredly.

"Piece of trash." Darkseid said with bitterness in his voice. Then he fired another blast of Omega Beams at the capsule, and in a blast in was engulfed in fire! "Just like that, your dreams gone." Darkseid said darkly.

"Hey! You almost hit me!" A cheery voice called. Darkseid looked up quickly to see the Kryptonian boy sitting on top of a tall supercomputer! "You know, I recognize you… you're that Darkseid guy. They had statues of you all over the place while I was still at The Hole." The Kryptonian cracked his neck. "I don't know exactly what's going on… but I know I don't want to go back there. So if I have to fight you, I'm going to."

"Naïve little welt." Darkseid growled. He moved to blast the Kryptonian again, but with speed that would have surprised even Jesse, the boy blurred down and punched Darkseid into a pillar.

"I don't really like your tone." The kid said with a happy-go-lucky grin. "And by the way… my name is Sky."

**(Apokolips – Granny Goodness's Arena)**

Connor Queen had been pulled out of his torture chamber and given a few hours to recover. He hadn't been told why, but he didn't really care as long as it got him away from the rib-ripper. He sat in the crappy little dormitory he had been given, having just woken up from a nap, when the door came open. A beautiful girl, probably around eighteen years old, entered. She had chocolaty brown hair down past her shoulders, and dark skin. Her lips were cherry red, and her eyes were bright, neon green. Oh, and she had wings. Large, angelic wings that seemed to actually reflect the light around her, bending it into a radiant cascade.

"A dirty mattress, rats, and now angelic hookers? Damn, this place has everything." Connor remarked.

"Shut up." She said in a voice like sweetened steel, and struck Connor in the face.

"Whoa! What is this, an S&M kinda' thing? I guess I can get into that." Connor gave her his best smartass grin, despite his swelling cheek.

"They were right about you." She said.

"What? That I have a remarkable tolerance for pain?"

"No, that you're remarkably stupid." She grabbed Connor by the shirt and pulled him up off the mattress, leading him toward the door.

"Mind telling me where we're headed?"

"The arena."

"Arena? Are we watching Apokoliptian football or something?"

"Not quite." She shoved Connor out the door, stepped into the hallway, and slammed it behind her. "Our trainees for the Female Furies need a practice dummy. That's going to be you."

"I hope we're talking about their Sex Ed class, here."

"You tell me." She said, and handed him a dagger. He eyed the blade in his hand.

"Yup. Definitely sex."

"Are you always this annoying, or is it special just for me?" She stated.

"Ok, I'll answer that if you answer my question first." Connor said seriously.

"What?"

"How does an angel wind up in hell?"

"Because Darkseid blew heaven up. End of story." She shoved Connor forward down the hall.

"I know who you are." He said, looking into her eyes.

"I don't care."

"You're Kavita Stewart. You're a League Kid." He continued.

"You're really making me say it again? I don't care." She pushed him back toward the door that led out to the arena.

"When Corey comes here and puts a bullet it that pretty little ass of yours, I have a feeling you'll start to care." Connor spat.

"Corey isn't going to be a problem. Darkseid himself is there right now cleaning up that little mess." Kavita said with indifference.

"Darkseid is there?" Connor froze.

"Yeah. And so are your sister and all her little friends."

"Allie…" Connor said under his breath. "The Allie who you let live when she was in The Hole? And now you're just going to let her die?"

"That's how it goes. She should have kept her head down." Kavita opened up the door and shoved Connor through. Eight of the potential Furies recruits were waiting on the other end, armed and ready to kill him.

"You must care, at least a little bit. I know for a fact you aren't as bad as them." Connor nodded to the women on the other side of the arena. "You play the part well, but that's all you are… an actor. You can't honestly say you don't care that all those innocent people are about to be slaughtered!"

"Look, it doesn't matter if I care or not. I'm just the recruiter, I have no actual authority."

"That doesn't mean you can't make a difference."

"Maybe I don't want to make a difference. Maybe I'm happy with not having to fear for my life every second of every day!" She shoved Connor down onto the ground and kicked him in the ribs, mostly just to show dominance to the recruits on the other end.

"How can you live with yourself?" Connor breathed, reeling in pain.

"At least I can live."

"But is it worth it?"

There was silence. Kavita forced Connor back on his feet and whispered in his ear. "Look, my older brother Rex… he tried to make a difference, he tried to be a hero. And do you know what happened to him? He was killed, just like every other _hero _out there! I prefer not to follow in his footsteps."

"You're a coward."

"I did what I needed to do to survive!"

"Yeah… and I bet your parents would be _so _proud."

Kavita froze, staring at Connor as if she had been punched in the gut. She glanced over at the eight warriors on the other end of the arena, and then she breathed a deep sigh. She moved quickly, and pulled Connor into a headlock, pretending to attack him. But once he was in close, she pulled a small bullet out of her pocket. It looked like silver, except that it had an odd blue glow. She slid this bullet discretely into Connor's pocket.

"That's a Radion bullet." She whispered.

"Radion? What the hell is that?"

"Radion is the one substance in the universe that Darkseid is vulnerable to. It's the one substance that can kill him."

"Where did you get something like that?"

"Rex. He always wanted me to use it."

"And you kept it?" Connor grinned. "Aw… looks like somebody does care after all!"

"Shut up. I'm going to quickly reconfigure my Mother Box to send you back to Earth. Then I'm going to give the signal that these trainees can attack. As soon as I do, you attack me and steal the Mother Box. Open a Boom Tube, and get out of here. Oh, and if you breathe a word of this to anyone, ever, I'll hunt you down and kill you."

"Sounds like a plan babe." Connor smiled. "So any other advice you want to give before you unleash your warrior chicks on me?"

"Yeah. Don't miss."

"I never do."

Kavita then shoved Connor forward, and yelled, "Attack!" As soon as she did this, the Fury trainees drew their weapons and charged at Connor. Connor doubled back and struck Kavita down, only because she allowed him to do so. As soon as she was down, he grabbed the Mother Box out of the holder on her armor, pressed what he assumed was the right button.

There was a thundering sound, and a Boom Tube opened up before him. Connor leapt through it, and his body was overcome with a bizarre sensation that he had never felt before. His molecules were quickly dematerialized, and sent as streams of data back to Earth, where he would exit the second Boom Tube and rematerialize. At least, he hoped so.

**(Corey's Hideout)**

Sky Kent, the Kryptonian, leapt toward Darkseid in a super fast blur. Darkseid smashed down his fist and pummeled Sky into the concrete. Sky rolled over and jumped back up, bashing Darkseid in the side of the head. The villain still had the upper hand, however, sweeping his arm to the side and pounding Sky into a wall. He then unleashed his Omega Beams, and plowed Sky twelve feet through the ground! Sky slowly arose from the shroud of smoke, however, having survived an attack that no human would ever be able to withstand. Only a Kryptonian could take a hit from the Omega Beams and hope to survive.

Sky's body was literally smoking, and the chest area on his suit had been burned away, revealing a muscular chest that had been charred black. But Sky actually laughed! "This is fun! Nobody at The Hole was ever this tough!" His voice was enthusiastic, almost naïve.

"I like this kid." Quinton smiled.

"He can certainly fight." Tommy nodded. "I just hope he can fight seriously."

Sky leapt like a bullet at Darkseid, who struck him down again. This time, however, Sky rolled out of the way of his next strike and flung his foot up between Darkseid's legs, rocketing the villain up into the air. Sky then jumped up and grabbed Darkseid, rammed his knees his back, flipped over, and smashed his head into the ground! Then he flipped off, and kicked Darkseid, sending him tumbling across the floor.

"Looks I win round two." He grinned, and wiped the blood away from his mouth. "Now for three!" He jumped at Darkseid, but Darkseid simply grabbed his face and punched his stomach! Then he threw Sky down and stepped on his chest.

"You don't fight like Superman. You're just as strong, but far more coordinated. An interesting challenge, I'll admit." Darkseid said. "I may actually have to try while killing you."

Darkseid blasted a series of thundering punches into Sky's face, drawing spouts of blood and turning him black and blue. Tommy attacked Darkseid from behind, but was struck down with ease. Sky looked to Tommy with a pained expression. "Hi."

"Hey there." Tommy said as he rolled away from another strike. But as he began to stand up, Darkseid grabbed him by the back of the head and raised him in the air. He did the same with Sky, and then bashed their heads together! Both young heroes had a white hot pain shoot through them, and their vision blurred. Darkseid threw them both and moved in for the kill on his disoriented opponents, when suddenly a Boom Tube ripped open behind him!

Connor Queen came flying out, and launched the dagger into the back of Darkseid's head! There was a loud clang, and Darkseid stumbled forward. Connor hit the floor with a grin. "Wild…"

"Queen?" Corey gasped, just beginning to recover from Darkseid's beating.

"It's a long story dude." Connor smiled and flipped his hair out of his eyes.

"Very well. Another lamb to the slaughter." Darkseid growled. He charged Connor just as planned. However, he was much, much faster than Connor had anticipated. Before Connor could even hope to use the Radion bullet, he was bashed in the head and hurled to the side. Connor slid to his feet, but the bullet went tumbling out of his hands.

The weapon rolled over to Prome and Kio, as the two children were recovering from their head injuries inflicted by Darkseid.

"What's that?" Kio asked.

"It's a bullet stupid!" Prome snapped.

"Well duh it's a bullet! But why is it glowing!"

"I don't know, maybe its magic."

"The magic bullet is for baby food, Einstein!"

Darkseid turned around, intrigued. "Bullet?" He eyed the cylindrical object between the two boys, and then raced after it!

Quinton, realizing it must have been important, yelled, "Prome! Kio! Monkey in the middle!"

"Sweet!" The kids said in unison, and snatched the bullet up off the floor. Prome then stood on Kio's shoulders, and threw it over Darkseid into Tommy's grasp.

"It's hot." Tommy noted, feeling the immense heat from the bullet. It also weighed down his hand like a bowling ball, much heavier than he had expected.

"It's Radion!" Connor called out. "It can kill him!"

"Silence!" Darkseid belted Connor across the jaw, and then moved after Tommy.

Corey slid Tommy a pistol. "Shoot it!"

"I don't use guns." Tommy shook his head.

"Give it here!" Sky took the bullet in his hand, pulled back his arm, and whipped it like a fastball at Darkseid! The bullet sailed at him like, well, a bullet. However, with his remarkable reaction time, Darkseid dodged around the projectile and struck Sky in the shoulder, dislocating it.

"A feeble effort." Darkseid mocked. The bullet hit the wall next to Chris. He wobbled to his feet, morphed his right hand into a gun-like mechanism, and loaded the bullet inside. Then he took aim at the distracted Darkseid.

"You're going down… bitch." Chris muttered. Then, just before the bullet was fired, Darkseid heard the mechanism in Chris's arm click, and spun around quickly. He blasted his Omega Beams, and Chris evaded for the most part, but they struck his arm… and disintegrated it! Chris let out a pained shriek as he forcefully reverted back to human form, in which blood sprayed from the stump where his arm had previously been!

"My God…" Tommy breathed.

"That was a dick move right there." Sky huffed.

"You're not getting away with that!" Tommy screamed. He sprinted forth and jumped up, landing a kick on Darkseid's face! He then bounded off, using the force from the kick as momentum, and spun toward where the bullet had fallen. But before he could move to give it to Corey, Darkseid clapped his hands forcefully and sent a shockwave that caused Tommy's ears to bleed!

"This ends now!" Darkseid announced, and released the full force of his Omega Beams at the disoriented Tommy. Tommy braced for the coming impact, as time slowed to a crawl around him.

"No!" Ethan shouted, and crawled out of the hole Darkseid had pummeled him into. He allowed his lower body to burst into a wave of electrical energy, and surged near the speed of light toward Tommy… and in a flash… Ethan Pierce took the hit for Tommy Grayson! The powerful Omega Beams pierced into Ethan's body, and he felt a pain like never before as raw energy attacked his very molecules! And in a painful, screaming flash of light… Ethan Pierce lay on the ground, smoldering, and lifeless.

"No…" Tommy breathed, utterly in shock. "Oh no… Oh God no…"

"Pathetic." Darkseid scoffed. "He was only the first. You will be the second."

At that moment, Jesse came zooming into the room, the first set of Omega Beams still trailing close behind him! "Did you just kill Ethan? Dude, not – cool!" Jesse screamed. He picked up speed, having already broken the sound barrier, and raced toward Darkseid! With his enhanced reflexes, Darkseid moved to punch Jesse. But then the speedster began to vibrate rapidly, and phased straight through Darkseid's body! And the Omega Beams following Jesse struck Darkseid dead on!

Connor whipped out the Mother Box and opened a new Boom Tube right behind Darkseid, and the Omega Beams blasted him in! Darkseid grabbed onto the floor as the Boom Tube began to pull him through.

To finish the deal, Allie wobbled to her feet, knocked an arrow, and fired it right into Darkseid's face! He was blasted through the Boom Tube just as he was screaming, "This – is not – over!"

Then the Boom Tube flashed closed, having sent Darkseid back to Apokolips. For the time being, at least.

"Thanks God." Jesse sighed, and fell onto the floor, breathing heavily. "You have no idea how long I was running!"

Everyone quickly assessed their injuries. Corey still had a splitting headache, but other than that and a few bruises, he was ok. Tommy's right arm was fractured, he had a few deep cuts, and some cracked ribs, as well as a lot of bruising. Connor had a dislocated jaw, Sky a dislocated shoulder and a broken nose. Allie had received a lot of minor fractures, and Flo had a broken left arm. Fate had taken some of the worst damage, with a broken leg, jaw, arm, and a fractured skull! She was immediately rushed to Corey's infirmary.

Chris was mostly ok, except that he had lost an arm. He had passed out from pain and shock, and he too was taken to the infirmary immediately. Troy had come out pretty well, with only a fractured shoulder and some minor internal bleeding that was already recovering. Quinton had little physical damage, as he hadn't actually been involved in the fight, but he was still nearly hyperventilating from stress.

Jesse was suffering from severe overexertion and dehydration, as well as a serious bloody nose. Absolutely no one had come out of the fight uninjured. Especially not Ethan… Ethan had no pulse, after taking the hit from the beams. If it weren't for his electric armor, he would have been reduced to ash! Ethan had been taken to the infirmary before anyone, but Corey's medics seemed grim on any hope of reviving him. Everyone was still waiting on a final word.

"I don't think we'll be attacked again, not today at least. Darkseid will need to dwell over that defeat for a while." Corey decided.

"It wasn't a defeat." Tommy shook his head instantly. "Darkseid beat us, through and through. All of us are more injured than we've ever been, and I don't think we even hurt Darkseid too badly. He wiped the floor with all of us. It was a pure stroke of luck that we could just get him away!"

"Yeah. You're right. He beat us pretty bad." Corey said, agreeing with Tommy for once.

"Is it ok with you if we stay here a bit, and recover?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah. For the night, at least. Then we'll all have to get a move on, we can't stay here anymore."

"I know." Tommy nodded. "Flo can heal us a bit, though I doubt she'll be able to get anyone back up to a hundred percent right now."

"We need to talk about him anyway." Corey nodded to Sky, who seemed fascinated by everything going on around him.

"Yeah. We'll talk about him later." Tommy agreed. "And we need to figure out what the hell _they_ are." He nodded to Kio and Prome.

"This was bad. If we hadn't gotten him through that Boom Tube, Darkseid would have killed us all."

"I know."

"Well, not _everything _is terrible here." Quinton offered.

"How?"

"Well now, we have this." He held up the Radion bullet. "And I bet I can figure out how to get more."

**(Grodd's Island)**

"Cheated! Fooled!" Gorilla Grodd shrieked and tossed around more pieces of machinery.

"Calm down Grodd." Parasite groaned.

"_Calm down? _You weren't even in the fight, you glorified mosquito! And you're telling me to calm down?"

"I was patrolling with Amazo and Killer Frost. I couldn't be in the fight." Parasite reasoned.

"Yeah, and you did a real damn good job of that, didn't you?" Grodd seethed.

Suddenly, a Boom Tube opened up in the room, and Grayven lumbered out! All of the villains fell silent. "Hello… Gorilla Grodd." Grayven offered.

"Grayven? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I have an offer to make." Grayven said with a smile.

"What kind of offer?"

"What if I told you there was another way to activate the Hell Spear?"

"I'd be very interested." Grodd mused. "Go on."

"I have a way to use the Hell Spear that doesn't involve that smartass Alex Luthor." Grayven smiled. "And I'll tell it to you."

"What's the catch?"

"I just need you to help me destroy someone. Well, actually, two people."

"Who would they be?"

"Common enemies of ours." Grayven smiled. "Tommy Grayson… _and _my father."

**A/N – Ok, so in the next chapter we get to know Sky a bit better, learn Ethan's fate and much, much more! So as always, keep reading! (And reviewing, reviews are nice) :) **


	18. Retalliation

Chapter Eighteen: New Year, Same World

"Darkseid wiped the floor with us. We barely made a dent. Now Ethan might be dead, we're awaiting final word on that. Chris lost an arm, and Fate had serious head trauma… they still haven't been able to wake her up. That's the worst of it, but nobody came out of that unharmed. On the bright side, we got the Kryptonian, and we got a Radion bullet in our possession. It's apparently capable of killing Darkseid. That's good because I clearly can't do it on my own. I felt so helpless… I was watching Darkseid tear my friends apart, and I couldn't stop him. The truth is, he's terrifying. And if I have to face him again… I don't know. All I know is that I won't be able to win, and that's a problem. Sky can provide some much needed muscle, but when push comes to shove, I'm the leader of my team, and I'm the one who they'll be counting on to win. I need to get stronger. I need to figure out the powers I inherited from my mother, I need to learn how to use them when I want to, rather than when they decide to start working. I need to be strong. End of story. Tommy Grayson, signing out on January 1st, 2034. Yup, happy freakin' New Year."

Tommy slid the video journal into his pocket and breathed a deep sigh. He adjusted his arm, giving a pained hiss as he did so. The arm hurt a lot more than he let on to Corey's medics. He refused to take any pain killers, they dulled the senses and he needed to stay sharp. He could deal with some pain if it meant staying alive.

Putting his arm in the most comfortable position he could get it in, he exited the small storage closet he had found and walked over toward the medical area. Ethan had been blocked off in his own private area, just another bad sign. Tommy found the medic who had been treating him. "Well, what's the word?" He asked.

"I… I can't exactly say…" The medic answered uneasily.

"What do you mean you can't say? Is my friend alive or not? It doesn't matter if you have any medical training or not, you should be able to figure out if your patient is dead!" Tommy snapped. He was trying to remain calm about the situation, but in truth, he was on the verge of breaking down. Ethan had taken that blast for him. He'd maybe given his life for him.

"Well, Thomas-"

"Tommy." The teenager interrupted, looking at the medic squarely. "My name is Tommy."

"Right, Tommy. I think you should see this for yourself." The medic moved toward the door and pushed it open slowly, motioning Tommy inside. The room was small, but was outfitted with the best medical equipment Corey had been able to salvage. As in, a few scalpels and some other barely-functional junk. There was a small mattress, upon which Ethan Pierce sat straight up. His shirt was off, and he was talking to the nurse in front of him loudly.

"I don't want any more water. I want food." Ethan was practically snarling at her.

"We need to run more tests. Water naturally suppresses the appetite, so while we're testing you can-"

"I'm fine, alright? Look at me; do I not look fine to you? So just get me a damn burger or something, please!"

"What's the big deal?" Tommy asked the medic. "He looks fine."

"That's what's bothering me." The medic said in a very uneasy voice. "Look at this." He turned on a heart beat monitor strapped to Ethan. There was nothing. No trace of any heartbeat at all. "You see that? It appears his heart isn't even beating!"

"Probably just faulty equipment. I'm sure Corey salvaged all this stuff from hospitals that had been in ruins for a decade." Tommy reasoned.

"Ok then, feel his pulse." The medic stammered. Tommy moved somewhat reluctantly over to Ethan, and gave a questioning look.

"Go ahead. I'm pretty sure you're smarter than these guys anyway." Ethan held out his arm. Tommy put his finger to Ethan's pulse… but he felt nothing. He tried his neck. Still nothing.

"What the hell…?" Tommy muttered.

"Weird, right?" Ethan shrugged.

"Ethan are you even breathing?"

"What kind of dumb ass question is that?"

"I haven't your chest move even once. Think about it a second… have you been breathing?"

After a bit of an awkward pause, Ethan gave an uncomfortable laugh. "No. I'm not!"

"This is extremely bizarre." The medic shook his head. "He seems to have no vital signs whatsoever, yet he is functioning just fine."

"Alright, I'll settle this right now." Ethan stood up from the mattress and grabbed a surgical knife off the wall.

"Ethan hold on a minute!" The nurse shouted, but she was too late. Ethan plunged the knife into his wrist, wincing in pain, and pulled downward a ways, leaving a wide gash in his flesh. But oddly, it didn't bleed. Not even a drop of blood spilled.

"My God…" The medic stammered. "His blood isn't even flowing!"

"That settles it then. I'm a zombie. Now can I have a burger?" Ethan looked to the nurse.

"I- I'll go get you that…" She said shakily, her skin pale. She ran off out of the room.

"Ethan aren't you freaked out about this? There is literally no reason you should still be alive right now." Tommy stated.

"Guess I'm just lucky." Ethan gave a shrug. "I'm sure it'll all kick back in once I'm up and moving a little."

"What did it feel like, the Omega Beams?" Tommy asked.

"It felt… powerful. And hot. Really, really hot. But can I tell you something?"

"What?"

Ethan leaned forward and said quietly to Tommy, "I absorbed it."

"You what?"

"I absorbed the Omega Beams. They hit my body, and I siphoned them in."

"But I thought you could only do that with electricity?"

"Until now, that's been true. But somehow I absorbed those beams… and I don't know what the hell it did to me, but I feel stronger than ever."

"I should ask Q about this, he probably knows something."

"No! Don't tell Quinton, or anybody!" Ethan pleaded.

"Why not?"

"Because they aren't going to trust me! They'll all assume I've been hiding some powers from them, or that I'm a zombie working for Darkseid, or something! Please… just keep this on the down low, at least for now?"

"Fine." Tommy sighed. "But if your skin starts rotting, we're getting Q involved."

After that, Tommy walked out of the room and took a moment to compose himself. He heard a moan and looked across the room at Allie, lying on her makeshift stretcher, coming awake slowly. "Happy New Year Sunshine." She said with a smile.

"I wish." Tommy sighed and moved toward her. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I could be, I guess. Thanks to you."

"It wasn't just me." Tommy said quickly.

"Yes it was. Darkseid was moving in to kill me, and you leapt into action and saved my life."

"Well… I didn't want to let him hurt you, I guess." Tommy said uncomfortably. He sat down next to her. "I can't believe how long this has been going on. I mean, it all happened so fast..."

"Yeah, it started on October 15th." Allie nodded. "Actually it started as a birthday present."

"I remember. It was my birthday and you helped me break into restricted areas of the cave, where I found all Batman's old equipment." Tommy's voice trailed off. "And I hopped on that motorcycle and escaped."

"Yeah."

"God… I was such an idiot!" Tommy dropped his gaze. "I started this whole thing, just because I was bored!"

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Allie smiled. "Tommy these last couple of months have been the greatest time of my life. Even though I was stuck in The Hole was a big chunk of it, at least it was something. I was out of the cave, I was seeing the world, and I was making a difference. Tommy whether we win or lose, what you've given us… it's been great."

"Great? The lives of everyone here are constantly in danger!"

"But that doesn't mean our lives are any worse." Allie reasoned. "The danger just adds to the thrill. And besides, I guarantee that every single person on this team is happier now than they were before this all began. I mean, you and I always wanted nothing more than to be out of the cave and see the real world, we've gotten that. Quinton, he used to just lock himself in the library all day and read books. Now he's a super-smart bad ass with a girlfriend! Who, by the way, no longer has to spend her life hiding in the ocean. And Jesse, he was just some con-man living off scraps on the street before we met him. Ethan was locked in a bubble until we came along, Troy was stuck in Warworld fighting for his life every day, and Fate never even got to see anyone living until her little premonition led her to you! You have changed all our lives for the better Tommy, no matter how dangerous it is."

Tommy thought it over for a minute, analyzing every word like it was a pound of gold. "Thanks Allie." He said finally. "I just… I wish I could have been as strong back then as I am now. Maybe then…"

"My mom would still be alive?"

"Yeah." Tommy choked past the lump in his throat. "Exactly."

"You have to stop dwelling over that. You can't beat yourself up forever Tommy. There was nothing any of us could have done."

"Deathstroke was aiming for me when he fired that blade. I dodged it, and it hit her."

"So you'd rather have let yourself be impaled? Tommy you have no reason to feel guilty. Nobody holds you responsible. I guarantee my mom wouldn't."

"It's just… the last time I saw her, I yelled at her. I told her she wasn't my mother, and that she should stop pretending to be. That was pretty much the last thing I ever said to her… then she was killed because of my actions. It feels horrible every time I think about."

"You know she would have forgiven you a hundred times by now." Allie smiled warmly, but there was sadness behind it.

"I know." He replied quietly. He heard a sob, and looked up to see Allie was crying now. "Allie…"

"I miss her so much." She breathed. And without another word, Tommy hugged her. He had never hugged anyone before. Ever. But it felt kind of good. Not something he wanted to go around doing all the time, but now and then… it could be nice.

"Me too Allie." He admitted. "I was wrong you know. She was my mother. The one who raised me."

**(Behind Fate's Medical Curtain – Same Time)**

Jesse pulled open the curtain slowly, peering inside to Zatina Fate Blood hovering just above the bed and entrapped in a whitish glow. Quinton had explained that she was in a magical healing stasis or something. All Jesse knew was that the doctors hadn't been able to wake her up.

The young speedster moved toward her awkwardly touched her hand. As soon as he did this, a powerful surge rocketed through his body and his vision went black! Suddenly, Jesse was in a temple. The temple was in ruin, but had clearly been beautiful in the past. Vines ensnared the stony rubble, and wind whistled through the cracks in walls, which were adorned with intricate paintings. "What the…" Jesse muttered in shock.

"Hey douche bag, I'm over here." A girl's voice suddenly spouted. Jesse whipped around to see Fate standing behind him with her arms crossed.

"Fate? Hey, um… where the hell am I right now?"

"Well technically, you are still at Corey's hideout. Your mind, on the other hand, is here in Nanda Parbat."

"You mean you place with all the ghost monks where you grew up?"

"Yes."

"So how did my mind get here, then?"

"Well, I'm kind of in a coma right now. But I really needed someone to talk to. So I brought you here where our minds could have a little chat."

"I hate magic." Jesse shook his head. "So anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"Sky."

"What about him?"

"He's the other guy."

"What other guy?"

"The other guy from my vision! Remember how I had that vision of Tommy and some other dude fighting to the death, and some voice was telling me that if I didn't bring peace between them, then all of humanity would die?"

"Yeah, that's why you were stalking us before. I remember."

"Well Sky is the other guy!"

"Ok, so… you keep them from killing each other, and the world gets saved. Sounds simple enough, Sky seems like you could probably subdue him with Scooby Snacks."

"The point is, I'm in a freakin' coma. So if things get bad, you might have to step up and fix it."

"Or I could just make Allie do it." Jesse shrugged. "So, actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about too. When you kissed me-"

"Oh don't worry about that."

"Huh?"

"That was a mistake. Forget it."

"Well, that's the thing… I don't really want to forget it." Jesse moved closer to her. "It was nice."

"Funny, isn't that the same thing you told Allie?" Fate glared.

"Allie- wait, you saw that?"

"Sure did, asshole."

"No, no, no, Fate she kissed me so that I could date you!"

"What?"

"Well I was confused, because before it seemed like I had something with Allie, but then I started to like you, so I asked if there was any chance her and I would go anywhere, and-"

"Oh, so I'm your second choice?"

"No! It's not like that!"

"Then how is it Jesse?"

"I don't know, ok? I just know that whenever I try to think about happiness, the only thing on my mind is you."

"Huh, I wonder how many times you've used that line." She rolled her eyes.

"Never until now, although it was pretty good, and I wish I had thought of it before."

"You are such a-" Fate began to form an insult, when suddenly her eyes turned from golden to purple, and the purple tattoo on her arm began to glow. "Jesse you need to go."

"Hold it, I'm not done!"

"I am."

"Z listen, I just-"

_"Nruter ot ytilaer." _She shouted as her eyes began to glow. Suddenly Jesse was struck with a wave of magic, and the next thing he knew, he was back in the medical ward, looking at Fate's comatose body levitating above the stretcher.

"That girl does not know how to listen." Jesse shook his head. He put his hands in his pockets, but to his surprise felt something there. From his pocket he withdrew a small slip of paper. He unfolded it, revealing a note from Fate.

_Yo Dumbass, watch Sky for me. Make sure nothing happens with him and Tommy._

_-Love… who am I kidding? No one loves you._

Jesse crumpled up the note and tossed it aside. "Who knew she could be so bitchy when she gets mad?" He muttered to himself. Then he headed out the door to find Sky.

**(Chris's Medical – Same Time)**

"So what did you find on those two kids?" Corey asked as he, Connor, Quinton and Flo headed toward the medical tent.

"Kio and Prome? Not much." Quinton shook his head. "I know that their names derive from Greek mythology. Prometheus was the titan who brought fire to Earth against Zeus's will, and Khione was a goddess of ice and snow."

"Anything else?" Corey pushed.

"Well, I know that Sky was part of a Cadmus operation known as 'Project Last Light,' and since Kio and Prome were also in the room, they probably are too. I just don't know how they tie into the whole thing."

"What is Project Last Light?"

"I don't know. I tried hacking the files on it, but it's definitely a strong system. I've never seen so many firewalls until now. I can keep trying, but it will take some time."

"Has anyone thought to actually ask Sky about this? Or Kio and Prome? Maybe they know something we don't. Instead of just digging through old files trying to find out who or what they are, we could see if they know." Flo reasoned.

"No offense, but Sky doesn't seem to know much of anything." Connor said. "Earlier I saw him smash a jar of peanut butter against his head to get it open, because he could figure out how the lid worked!"

"I don't think Sky is stupid. He just doesn't understand the world around him very well." Quinton opined. "He's been in stasis for most of his life. His body may have matured, but I don't know if his mind really did."

"My problem is his inability to distinguish real danger from fun." Corey added. "When we were fighting Darkseid, he seemed to treat it like a game!"

"Well that's all it was to him. Even when he was at The Hole, Sky was kept alive and in good condition in case Darkseid ever wanted to use him as a weapon or something. He's probably never been in any danger, or even told about it for that matter. Since his torture and combat had to be nonlethal, he probably grew to treat it like a game at some point, because there wasn't ever a risk. Sky doesn't understand that we could have been killed, how could he?"

"Well I hope he's a quick learner. The last thing we need is some immature super powered brat to babysit." Corey grumbled.

The four of them reached Chris's medical tent and slowly stepped in. They found him sitting on the foot of his bed, flexing his new, robotic arm. "Hey." He said absently.

"How is it?" Connor asked.

"Terrible."

"Oh."

"It doesn't hurt anymore, it's just… wrong. I don't feel it anymore, the arm, but I know it's supposed to be there. It's kind of like when you fall asleep on your arm, then you wake up and you can't even find it because the blood flow has been cut off so long. It's like that, but permanent."

"I feel like I have to ask…" Quinton began. "How does that cybernetic arm work?"

Chris's sad eyes brightened a little, and he held the robotic arm out to Quinton. Its technology stolen from Apokolips's Secret Police robots. They have semi-solid metal components that mimic muscles and joints perfectly, and the computer system connects to the nerves in my shoulder and wires directly into my brain."

"Incredible!" Quinton began to inspect it. "How is the movement perpetrated so fluidly?"

"It's a combination of electronics and hydraulics that-"

"I think we should go, I feel a nerd rant coming on." Flo said to Connor and Corey.

"Agreed." Connor laughed, and they stepped out of the tent.

**(Hangar – Same Time)**

Jesse and Sky had raided the pantry, and now made their way into the hangar. Corey had a few planes strewn throughout it, all patched together with shoddy mechanic work. Some were fighter jets they had salvaged, others were large passenger planes, and some were even the small planes used to spray fields.

"Nice. I freakin' love these things." Sky put his hand on the side of one of the jets. "I love anything that can get in the air, actually."

"Like you?" Jesse grumbled.

"I wish."

"Wait, what? But aren't Kryptonians supposed to be able to fly?"

"Yeah, but I can't." Sky dropped his gaze sadly. "I've tried; I just can't get in the air. I can still leap tall buildings in a single bound and crap, but that's as close as it gets."

"Well that sucks." Jesse shrugged uncomfortably.

"It's probably the hair. Not an aerodynamic cut at all." A third voice chimed in. A tall, dark haired guy covered in grease crawled out from underneath the plane.

"Who the hell are you?" Jesse asked.

"The name's Ian Prohaski. I'm the resistance's plane technician."

"Sorry, I don't talk to people whose name's I can't pronounce." Jesse told him.

"It's Polish, I believe." Ian laughed. "I'm the great descendant of Jonas Prohaski, leader of the Blackhawk Squadron during World War II. I honestly believe he was the greatest pilot who ever lived."

"That's awesome!" Sky shouted.

"That's boring." Jesse muttered. He looked at Sky's ridiculously blue eyes and said, "Are you always this enthusiastic about everything?"

"I guess so."

"Well that's annoying."

"You kids are funny." Ian chuckled. "I would you guys for a ride in one of my planes, but Corey is pretty strict about staying out of the air for now. It draws too much attention."

"Well that's a shame." Jesse rolled his eyes. And in doing so, he caught a glimpse of Mckayla Saunders, the combat trainer for Corey's army. Jesse had flirted with her back when Corey's base was still the old Titans Tower, just before they had been attacked by Grayven. And since Fate was angry with him, he decided he might as well try again. "What is she doing here?"

"Mckayla? She loves flying almost as much as I do." Ian answered.

"Good to know." Jesse said.

"Hey Jesse, you want to race?" Sky asked out of the blue. Jesse looked at him with a grin.

"You want to race me?"

"Yeah. What's the matter, are you scared?"

"You seriously think you can take me, huh?"

"Yup."

"Alright blondie, I'll race." Jesse laughed. "But first, I'm going to go seduce her." Jesse nodded toward Mckayla.

"Uh-huh, and I'm going to sprout wings and fly." Ian rolled his eyes.

"You can do that?" Sky gasped, gazing at Ian.

"You have been frozen a _long _time dude." Jesse laughed.

"It was sarcasm Sky. I'm just saying that Jesse doesn't have a chance with Mckayla." Ian explained.

"Oh." Sky looked at Jesse and grinned. "I dare you to touch her boobs."

"Are you serious? You're really going to be that immature?" Jesse scoffed. Then he grinned and said, "You double dare me?"

…

Mckayla wandered the hangar looking at the few makeshift planes that Corey's army had collected, when suddenly Jesse zoomed up next to her. "So, planes, awesome huh?"

"Yeah." She didn't even look at him. She was tall, with fair skin and a serious face. Her hair was a sandy brown, and her eyes were a deep hazel-emerald color.

"Yeah so, Darkseid yesterday? I'm the one who took him down." Jesse bragged while making a point to flex his arms.

"Really? Because I heard you ran away like a little girl from his Omega Beams the entire fight." Mckayla grinned.

"Yeah, then I led them back into him." Jesse crossed his arms.

"You mean after everyone else did all the work…?"

"I wouldn't look at it that way."

"But I would."

Jesse glanced back at Ian and Sky, who were both smiling like idiots and making grabbing motions with their hands. Jesse sighed and turned to see that her back was now to him. In a blur, he was around front and reached out his hands. Suddenly, a fist connected with Jesse's throat and he fell to the ground coughing painfully. Mckayla kicked him hard in the ribs, rolling him over on his back, and placed her heel on his chest. "I could literally collapse both of your lungs right now." She said.

"Please don't do that." Jesse choked.

"I'm going to remove my foot from your chest, and you are going to stand up, and walk away."

"Got it." He nodded. Mckayla pulled up her foot, and in a blur Jesse was back on the other side of the hangar.

"That looked embarrassing." Sky laughed.

"Actually, it looked soul crushingly humiliating." Ian added.

"Shut up." Jesse grumbled.

"So are we going to race or what?" Sky said with a confidant smile.

"Yeah, but first…" Jesse gave a sly grin. "You have X-ray vision right?"

"Yup."

"Think you could, you know…" Jesse nodded toward Mckayla.

"What?" Sky looked confused.

"He wants you to look through her clothes." Ian said as he wiped the grease off his hands with a rag.

"Oh! Yeah, I can do that." Sky smiled.

"I want details." Jesse stated.

"You bet." Sky directed his gaze toward Mckayla, and seemed to focus for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes flared red and a beam of heat vision erupted from them!

"Oh shit!" Jesse took off as fast as he could and tackled Mckayla to the ground as the heat vision burned holes straight through the concrete wall! Jesse landed with his face on Mckayla's chest. _Score._ He thought immediately. He raised his head to see the young woman glaring at him, anger burning in her expression.

"Hey Jesse, think we should have that race now?" Sky suggested.

"I think now would be an excellent time. " Jesse agreed. Then, in an instant, the two blurred out of the room and down the hallway.

"I'm really sorry about that!" Sky shouted.

"What the hell man? I said X-ray vision, not freakin' heat vision!"

"I'm sorry! Sometimes I get my powers mixed up!"

_"Its official, I have lost my title as group idiot." _Jesse muttered as he zoomed ahead of Sky. Sky quickly pulled forward and regained his lead.

"I hope you're invulnerable!" Jesse shouted as he slowed his pace.

"Why?" Sky looked back at him as he ran. Then his question was answered when he smashed into the heavy exit door, plowing it straight off the hinges! Sky tumbled into the cracked, ashy, barren parking lot outside.

"Way to use your head blondie!" Jesse laughed as he raced by.

"Ok, you're dead." Sky said with a grin, and took off once more.

**(Ruined Hub City Area – Same Time)**

Troy Prince sat atop one of the very few buildings still handing in what used to be The Hub. It was ruined, rotting, just like everything else. Troy watched the people down below as they gloomily swarmed the street, wandering aimlessly in search of food or shelter. Most were sick, dying even. There was no longer any will remaining among the human populace. They just wandered in endless depression, endless devastation, watching each other die. Troy realized for the first time just how good he had it.

_Can we really end all of this? _Troy looked up into the red sky. Apokolips ruled they Earth. Apokolips controlled the people. And Apokolips had the power. Up until this point, Troy had thought they were doing a good job of resisting their enemies. Now he realized they hadn't even begun to make a dent. They had managed to survive, but accomplished little else. They hadn't made a single strike against Apokolips's power. Sure they'd destroyed a few facilities, freed a few children, but what was the actual impact? Next to nothing. All they had accomplished was pissing Darkseid off; they hadn't yet put a dent in his power. And now Troy realized that if an actual victory were ever to be achieved, they would have to do just that. He just wasn't sure how.

Troy's thoughts were interrupted when his communicator given to him by Corey began to sound. He pulled the communicator from his pocket and pressed the button. "Talk to me." He said.

_"Where are you?"_ Tommy's voice came through.

"I just needed to get away for a little while. I'm not far."

_"You need to get back here. Once Allie and Fate are on their feet, we're heading out."_

"Is Ethan ok?"

_"That's… a bit complicated."_

"Listen, Tommy…" Troy dropped his gaze. "There's something I need to talk to you about. Something important, ok?"

_"Alright…"_

"You aren't going to like it."

_"Troy what are you-"_

"Just wait until I get back, ok? I'm heading there now." Troy hung up the communicator and stood up.

As he got on his feet, however, he heard an earsplitting roar in the sky. He looked up to see a fleet of massive Apokoliptian ships sailing overhead.

"Shit…" Troy quickly ducked underneath the shadow of a chunk of rubble.

Beams of light erupted from each ship in the fleet, converging at one point in the center of the city. Bystanders gazed up in confusion and awe. The light quickly formed a gigantic hologram… a hologram of Darkseid!

"Greetings you filthy, groveling mongrels. I am Darkseid, your lord and master. As some of you may have heard, a group of young _heroes _have stepped up to challenge my authority. They seek to free you from my leadership. They wish to remove my presence from the Earth." The holographic image of Darkseid bellowed.

Several of the people on the street began to cheer. It quickly morphed into a chant, "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"

"Yes, you cheer. You regard them as your saviors, you scream their names in hopes of liberation… but soon your screams will be of anguish, not hope." Darkseid stated. These words brought the chanting to a halt, and the villain continued speaking. "These are their faces!" Darkseid bellowed.

Suddenly, more holograms appeared. Images of Tommy Grayson, Allie Queen, Jesse West, Quinton Sage, Flo Curry, Troy Prince, Fate Blood, Corey Jones, Ethan Pierce, Connor Queen, Chris Magnus, and even Alexander Luthor.

"These are the so called heroes who wish to defend you! They are the ones who have risen to defend you! And now, because of their actions, you shall die!" Darkseid roared. And at that moment, the fleet of ships dropped a barrage of bombs.

And before Troy could even register the thought, Hub City was engulfed in fire.

**(Keystone City – Same Time)**

"You're going down West!" Sky shouted over the rushing wind as he sprinted just behind Jesse.

"Hey blondie, how's my ass look from back there?" Jesse shouted.

"Flat."

"What? Flat, are you kidding me?" Jesse stopped in his tracks and craned his neck to inspect his backside. "What do you mean flat? I-" Suddenly Sky rocketed past the stalled Jesse, and was almost out of sight within seconds!

"Ah damn it! Stupid ADHD!" Jesse kicked a rock with his boot, and it hit a dusty object with a loud clang. "What the hell is that…?" Jesse moved toward the object and quickly brushed away the dust and debris, revealing a bronze orb buried in the rubble. "Hey Sky! Come check this out bro!" Jesse called.

In a few moments Sky blurred back into view. "What?"

"There's something buried under here. Something really heavy. I'm trying to figure out what it is."

"Hang on; I'll use my x-ray vision to check under the rubble."

"Try not to blow it up." Jesse glared.

"I won't! But… back up, just in case."

"Already on it.'

Sky zeroed in on the area, and activated his x-ray vision carefully. Suddenly his sight was heading straight through the piles of rubble, scanning what lay underneath. "Whoa…"

"What is it?" Jesse inquired.

"You… you're going to want to see this." Sky began lifting up chunks of debris and throwing them aside with ease. Soon he was able to pull the object up from the wreckage, and Jesse's eyes widened at the realization of what it was.

A giant bronze statue… of The Flash. "Oh my God…"

"Isn't that your dad?" Sky questioned.

"No, not this one. This one is my great uncle Barry." Jesse shook his head. The two looked on at the ruined building before them. Jesse found an old plaque lying against the cracked wall, and wiped away the grime. On it were the words; **The Flash Museum**.

"Flash museum…" Jesse walked in through the door of the ruined building and looked around at the dark, cobweb infested area. "Sky, give me a light?" Jesse suggested as he lifted up a piece of broken plywood.

"You got it." Sky fired a beam of heat vision into the wood, igniting the top and giving Jesse a torch. They looked around as the smashed glass cases that once held famous memorabilia. On the floor was Jay Garrick's helmet, which Jesse picked up with a smile.

"Souvenir."

"You mean somebody actually wore that thing?" Sky grimaced.

"Old people are weird." Jesse shrugged, still looking around in awe. "This… is all dedicated to my family. My lineage."

"People in this city must have loved The Flash."

"Yeah. All of them." Jesse dropped his gaze. "Big shoes to fill, I guess."

"Dude, check this out!" Sky lifted up a large globe. Circling around the globe were two small figurines. One was of The Flash, and the other was of Superman!

"Commemorating their race around the world, I guess." Jesse smiled.

"That's my second cousin, apparently." Sky stared at the figurine of Superman. "Cool."

"Whoa…" Jesse's voice trailed into the room, suddenly far off.

"Jesse?" Sky looked up from the globe to see that his friend was no longer even in the room. He used his super hearing to zero in on Jesse's heart beat, and walked off to find him. Sky located the young speedster in a room with a giant bronze figure of a slightly leaner Flash, one with a happier expression.

"This one is my dad." Jesse said with a hint of pride in his tone. But also a sound that resembled loss.

"Did you know him?"

"Yeah. My dad was one of the last to die during the invasion. I was five years old when he left with Superman, Black Canary and Rex Stewart to take on Darkseid. They were the last four heroes left alive. I remember my dad telling me everything was going to be alright, and how things were going to get better soon. He told me how he would always be there for me. But then…"

"He never came back?" Sky finished.

"None of them did." Jesse said grimly, fighting the threat of a tear. "Rex, he made it home. But he was wounded. I vaguely remember my mother trying to help him, but he died. His little sister watched."

"Kavita Stewart?"

"I think so…" Jesse eyed Sky. "How did you know that?"

"She works for Granny Goodness now. She's the recruiter for the Furies. She came around The Hole a lot while I was still there. Before they froze me."

"Oh." Jesse dropped his gaze sadly. "That sucks."

"Well watching the last member of your family die from battle wounds could really take away your will to fight back." Sky reasoned. "She probably joined up with Apokolips because in her experience, no one could beat them."

"She might be right. Before he died, Rex was telling me about how my dad and Superman fought valiantly. But he said my dad sacrificed himself to stop a bomb of some sort, and Superman died in combat with Darkseid."

"What about Black Canary?"

"She got away with a few kids. Tommy, Allie, and Quinton. To tell you the truth, I don't think she ever even went into that battle. I think the plan all along was for her to get away with the kids, get them to safety while Superman and my dad held off the enemies. I think they both knew they were going to lose. They just served as a distraction while she got the kids to safety. But she's dead now too."

"Oh."

The two walked slowly into the next room. In it, two statues had survived the invasion. They were on opposite sides of the room. Both were painted in full color, rather than bronze. The two statues seemed to stare each other down. The first was of Bart Allen, the first person to call himself Impulse and a distant relative of Jesse's. The second statue… Jesse was unsure. The face looked identical to Bart's, but the costume was different and his expression was angry.

Jesse walked over to the plaque beneath the statue and brushed the dust away. It read; **Inertia, also known as Kid Zoom, in a controlled stasis forced to stare at his nemesis Impulse for all time.**

"What…?" Jesse looked back up at the statue.

"There's a switch." Sky said, pointing underneath the plaque. There was what looked like a light switch, but above it was a key lock, like it needed to be unlocked before it could be flipped. "You can pick locks right Jesse?"

"Oh no, I'm not touching this." Jesse protested, stepping away from the statue. "I have no idea who this is, but it says Impulse was his nemesis, and Impulse was a good guy, and therefore this is probably a bad guy."

"Oh come on Jesse, it's just a freakin' statue." Sky laughed.

"I'm not touching it." Jesse shook his head defiantly.

"Fine." Sky groaned.

"Let's get out of here. The others are probably wondering where we are."

"Yeah, you're right."

The two headed for the back door, but as Jesse reached for the handle, Sky stopped him. "What is it?" Jesse questioned.

"I hear something." Sky moved carefully over to a broken window near the door, motioning for Jesse to follow him. As they approached, Jesse began to hear loud, gruff voices. Slowly, they peered out the window.

In the street, there was a long line of people. They were the average people you saw around big cities; sick, dying, starving, and without hope. There were hundreds of them, standing in a single file line. At the front of the line were two Apokoliptian soldiers, grotesque armored creatures with horns, wearing translators that converted their grunts into butchered English. They were standing over a very small tub of water. An old woman was knelt down in front of the tub, drinking from it like a dog.

The one of the guards pulled the woman up forcefully. "Time is up. Go away." It growled.

"Please… I- I'm so sick… just a moment longer…" She pleaded.

"Two seconds per citizen. Want more water, come back three weeks." The guard belched. Then they literally threw the woman out of the way. She hit the pavement hard, giving a pained scream as blood splattered upon impact. Sky winced at the sight of this.

"What are they doing?" Sky asked.

"It's a water line. They have them in a lot of big cities." Jesse said grimly. "There's no fresh water openly available to anyone, Apokolips controls the entire water supply. Every three weeks or so they'll bring a tub like that to big cities and allow two seconds per citizen to drink. It's mostly just to keep a few people alive, so they don't run out of things to torture."

"That's horrible." Sky shook his head.

"By their standards, it's generous." Jesse frowned.

"We should help them." Sky began to move out the window, but Jesse pulled him back.

"We can't help them!" He protested.

"But we-"

"Listen Sky, we can beat up those guards, but we can't make more water. If we did take out the guards, people at the front of the line would get greedy and it would run out even earlier than it has to."

"I suppose." Sky admitted grudgingly. "But I don't like it."

"Come on, let's go out the front door and get back to the others. We're probably about ready to start heading out." Jesse said. But instead of getting a response, he heard a scream. "Sky?" Jesse looked over to see the young Kryptonian on the floor, his hands cupping his hears, trying to muffle his screams. "Sky? Sky what is it?"

"I hear something…" He grunted. "Explosions and… screams…"

"Screams? Where? Sky, what the hell are you hearing?"

Jesse placed his hand on Sky's shoulder, but he jerked up and accidentally threw the speedster across the room! Jesse collided with the base of the strange Inertia statue. "Dude? What the hell?" He got up slowly.

"I'm sorry." Sky grunted. Then he leapt straight upwards to the ceiling, and up through a hole where a skylight had once been. He landed on the half-toppled roof of the old Flash Museum, and used his super-vision to zero in on the area he was hearing the chaos from. "Oh my God…"

"Sky? Dude, what is it?" Jesse yelled up to him.

"We need to get back right now." Sky said grimly. "Hub City is on fire."

**(The Hub – Thirty Minutes Later)**

"What the hell happened here?" Jesse sprinted through the ashy, burning streets, trying not to look at the piles of dead bodies and exploded limbs.

"I don't know." Sky shook his head.

"Think anyone survived?"

"Hang on…" Sky closed his eyes and reached out with his super hearing, listening for breathing, or a heartbeat, or anything to indicate life. Soon his eyes snapped open, and he ran over to a pile of rubble about half a mile away from them. Jesse followed swiftly.

Sky began smashing away the chunks of larger debris, and simply pushing away the smaller ones, until they found a hand, sticking up between two large pieces of cement. Sky lifted up the top piece and threw it aside. Then he took the hand and carefully pulled the person up. To the shock of both he and Jesse, the person was none other than Troy Prince!

He was covered in blood in and ash, and was moaning incomprehensibly.

"Troy…?" Jesse tried to help him stand.

"Betrayed… so scared… mom, she'll come home…" Troy muttered. Those were the only words that Jesse was able to pick up out of his babbling.

"It's alright Troy; you're going to be fine." Jesse whispered. He tried helping Troy walk, but Troy's feet were barely moving. Jesse finally gave up and just decided to carry him.

Sky heard another whimper, and looked over to see a small dog, a Husky, eating out of an exploded dumpster. Without even thinking about it, Sky walked over and picked the dog up in his arms. It seemed scared at first, but he allowed it to check him out, and it began to grow more comfortable.

"A dog? Really?" Jesse groaned.

"Well I'm not just leaving out here to die! How many dogs do you see running around these days?"

"Fine, keep it. But you're stronger than me, so you can carry Troy, and I'll carry the puppy."

"Deal." Sky nodded and carefully handed the dog over to Jesse, while Jesse worked Troy into Sky's arms.

"That's better." Jesse said, holding the shivering ball of fur against his chest. And then it peed on him, soaking his shirt. "Oh come on!"

"You should have kept Troy." Sky laughed.

"Shut up blondie."

**(Outside Corey's Hideout – Forty Five Minutes Later)**

"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" Jesse gaped.

"That is not good." Sky shook his head.

Hub City had been bombed systematically. Every single section had been demolished… except for Corey's hideout. That was no coincidence. Now the few survivors of the bombing, around twenty citizens, were violently rioting outside the hideout!

They hurled rocks through the windows, beat pipes against the doors, trying to break in. "Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!" They were chanting.

"They're pretty pissed off at all of us." Sky frowned.

"They blame us for the bombing." Jesse nodded.

"They're right…" Troy murmured. For a moment he seemed coherent, but then he fell back into his quiet rambling.

"Hey, hey what are you guys doing out here?" Sky demanded, talking to one of the rioters.

"No more heroes!" He shouted.

"Hey man, we're trying to help you!" Jesse spat.

"Yet all you bring is more suffering!" The man shouted back. Then he pulled out a pistol and planted it in Jesse's face. "I never thought I'd be wasting my last bullet on some kid!"

He began to pull the trigger, when Sky placed his hand over the barrel. The bullet hit his skin and shattered. Sky clenched his fist and crushed the gun into a wad of steel. "Care to try me?" He glared.

"N-n-n-no, of course not." The rioter stammered, and quickly moved away from them.

Sky released a large wave of super-breath, which literally blew all of the rioters away from the door! They hit the ground with a series of painful thuds, and Sky walked over, kicked the door open, walked inside, and motioned for Jesse to follow. Once Jesse was inside, Sky unleashed a torrent of heat vision onto the ground around the door, setting it ablaze. He looked at the crowd of rioters and said, "Stay out. Shut up." He slammed the door closed, and headed to find the others, leaving Jesse stunned.

"Dude! Sky! When did you get a badass side?" Jesse laughed, running after him.

**(Upper Level – Same Time)**

"We did this." Tommy said grimly, gazing out the window into the fires engulfing the city. "This is all because of us."

"We should have seen this coming. Apokolips won't allow us to fight back without repercussions." Corey sighed.

"Yo, Tommy! We need an open medical tent now!" Jesse's voice shouted. Tommy looked back to see the Jesse and Sky approaching, Sky carrying Troy in his arms.

"He can have mine. I'm sure as hell not using it." Ethan announced as he bit into a rotten apple.

"Ethan," Jesse frowned, "That apple is-"

"I know what the apple is."

"Ok then."

"I'll take Troy to the infirmary." Sky stated, and carried the hero off into another area.

"Is that a dog?" Tommy grimaced.

"It was Sky's idea." Jesse sighed, and let the animal down onto the floor. It immediately went off to sniff the surrounding area.

"Jesse!" Allie's voice rang out. Allie exited her medical tent, finally back on her feet. "I thought you were dead!"

"No, me and Sky were in Keystone City at the time of the bombing." Jesse grinned.

"Good." Allie gave a quick, friendly hug, and pulled away with an odd look on her face. "Um… Jesse… why do you smell like dog urine?"

"You know what? Ask Sky."

"We need to get moving. We can't stay here any longer." Tommy sighed.

"But Fate's still not awake! And Troy sure as hell isn't on his feet!" Jesse protested.

"We'll take some medical supplies and take them both to the ship. Troy's a quick healer, and the doctors say Fate should be waking up soon."

"Alright." Jesse sighed. "What are we going to do from here on out?"

"I don't know." Tommy admitted.

"We need to sway public opinion in our direction." Quinton said in a calculating tone. "Right now, it's safe to assume that The Hub isn't the only that got bombed. A good majority of the Earth's people probably hate us right now. If we want to beat Apokolips, we need to rally some support. We need to make the public want to support us."

"I agree." Tommy nodded. "But how?"

"That… I have no idea."

"Actually, I have one." Jesse chimed in. All eyes were suddenly on Jesse, and he felt good about finally having an idea to contribute. "We free up the water supply!" He stated.

"What?" Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"When Sky and I were in Keystone, we saw a water line. People only got two seconds to drink from the only supply of fresh water in the city! It's like that in every city too, not just Keystone. And that's because Apokolips keeps a tight hold on the Earth's entire supply of fresh water."

"You control the water; you control the people who need it." Quinton nodded.

"Exactly. So what if we take away that control?" Jesse grinned. "We free the water, and the bad guys lose a major foothold!"

"It's a pretty good idea Jesse, but how are we supposed to make it happen?" Tommy asked with skepticism.

"Actually, I can help with that one." Flo chimed in. "You see, Apokolips has one huge, Earth-based control station where they hold all the safe drinking water. It'll be tricky. We'll need to blow a few dams, and then infiltrate the control station itself and release the water."

"Ok… and just where is this control station?" Tommy inquired.

"That's the trickiest part." Flo gave a smile. "It's in Atlantis."

**(Keystone City – Flash Museum)**

The sound of machinery roaring to life echoed through the long empty museum. When Sky had accidentally thrown him, Jesse had collided with the statue's base hard enough to damage the lock, and accidentally flipped the switch while standing up. And now, almost two hours later, the charge was finally complete. And the stasis was disrupted.

The figure known as Inertia stumbled forward. He had been locked in stasis for decades, forced to stare at the statue of Bart Allen, his nemesis. And the person he had been cloned from. "I'm… I'm free!" Inertia laughed maniacally. Then he gazed up at the statue of Bart Allen, and quickly smashed it to pieces.

Then he looked up at the broken skylight through which Jesse and Sky had escaped. "And now there's another one…" He clenched his fists. "I've been out of the game a long time. But the enemies never disappear."

**So, as you've probably guessed, we'll be seeing our heroes travel to Atlantis very soon. There will be plenty of interesting twists there, I promise you that! And also, a new rival for Jesse has surfaced, and we will some huge changes in his life very soon because of it! **

**Ok, I think I've teased you with enough spoilers now… so stay tuned!**


	19. Secrets

**Once again, I apologize that it took so long to update. Things have been pretty crazy for me lately, and I have found a very limited amount of time to write. I'll definitely get the next chapter up faster, no exceptions!**

**Thanks for all the great reviews, keep it up ;)**

Chapter Nineteen: Secrets

"Atlantis?" Jesse frowned. "Sounds a bit outside my comfort zone."

"You want the water, you hit Atlantis." Flo said plainly.

"It is a good idea. But honestly, I doubt we have the resources we need to stage an assault of that magnitude." Corey stated.

"I have to agree." Tommy nodded. "Everyone is tired, half of us are barely in fighting condition right now, and I know your men are getting low on weaponry."

"So what are we gonna' do?" Jesse folded his arms.

"We can't just roll over and die." Connor said. "Not after everything we've gone through."

"The fact is, despite our efforts, Apokolips's hold is stronger than ever now." Troy added. "They've used force to turn the public against us. It's really a pretty vicious circle. We try to fight against Apokolips, but they retaliate by dropping a few bombs on some civilians, and suddenly our work becomes counterproductive."

"Troy's right. We can't save humanity if there's no one left alive to save." Quinton reasoned.

"Which is why we have to get better at masking our efforts." Tommy seemed deep in thought. "We can't just charge onto the battlefield and make a scene anymore. We have to be covert. We have to do our job, but go unnoticed."

"It's kind of hard to make any sort of effect if the enemy doesn't even know you're there." Chris frowned. "If we're going to do what needs to be done, then our opponents are going to know about."

"Not necessarily." Tommy pursed his lips. "I might no a way we can make ourselves impervious to enemy retaliation. At least for a little while."

"What are you getting at?" Corey raised an eyebrow.

"It's a stretch, for sure. But if my idea works, it'll buy us enough time to pull off the Atlantean job. Then we free the water supply, and public opinion sways in our direction. Once we have the entire planet on our side, things will definitely be easier."

"Well don't leave us in the dark Grayson, what's this master plan of yours?" Connor sounded skeptical.

"What if we had a way to strike Apokolips with their own firepower? If we could actually take their attack, when they launch it, and turn it around in our favor?"

"How the hell are we supposed to do that?" Corey grunted.

"We won't be able to pull it off alone." Tommy frowned. "We'll need someone with the right resources. And I know who."

"Who…?"

"Alexander Luthor."

**Five Hours Later**

"Is this the place Corey said?" Allie questioned.

"These are the exact coordinates." Quinton nodded.

"Doesn't look all that safe to me." Jesse furrowed his brow.

"I think it looks pretty cool." Sky grinned.

"As long as it'll keep us sheltered until the Aquaship is up and running, it's good enough." Tommy decided.

Tommy, Allie, Jesse, Sky, Quinton, Flo, Ethan, Fate and Troy looked upon the old, decrepit clock tower before them. The tower had once been the base of operations for the Birds of Prey. During the war, it has been torn apart and left to ruin.

Apparently, it was rarely patrolled though. And as long as they kept a low profile, the tower would keep them safe. At least, that's what Corey had said.

After over an hour of debating, Corey had finally agreed to try Tommy's plan. So a small search party formed; Corey, Connor, Chris and Mckayla. The four of them were out looking for Alex Luthor, while the rest of Corey's army relocated to a safer base.

Meanwhile, Tommy's team was going to wait inside the clock tower. They would wait a month to stage their attack on Atlantis. That had been decided by Tommy and Corey alone, no one else had been allowed to know the exact date of the attack. That way, it would be impossible for the spy to alert Apokolips.

_We'll wait here one month. _Tommy thought as he looked over the tall, crumbling tower. _One month, and then things get real._

"We probably shouldn't just stand out here in the open." Ethan stated. He moved forward, and pushed open the clock tower doors. The inside was completely dark.

"Think the lights work?" Sky asked to the open air.

"Doubt it." Quinton answered.

"Give me a minute." Fate said tiredly. She had just recently woken up from her coma, and wasn't quite at the top of her game yet. _"Tel ereht eb tghil." She _chanted, and suddenly a bright white appeared, illuminating the enormous room. Suddenly, the dark wooden walls and floors could be seen, covered in cobwebs and caked with dust. There was a long, winding staircase along the walls, snaking its way up the tall tower up to the top, where the rusted mechanisms of the now inactive clock remained.

There were several doors along the walls, and the group could tell that the place had once been very nice. "Good job Fate." Jesse congratulated, but she simply scowled at him and turned away. "Damn she can hold a grudge," he muttered.

"We'll hide out here for a while. Then, when everything is ready, we'll move out." Tommy told the team. "For now, rest up. We all need it."

"I don't." Sky shrugged.

"Well you just woke up from a five year sleep." Jesse reasoned.

"I'm up for a break." Flo yawned. "Are there rooms in this place? Rooms with beds, perhaps?"

"Looks that way." Allie opened one of the doors, revealing what looked like a small hotel room, but with a bunk bed. Troy opened the rest of the doors along that wall. "Looks like there are only four rooms. And since there are nine of us, we'll have to go co-ed."

"There'll have to be one group of three. Other than that, groups of two will work." Tommy added.

"I want a room with somebody I don't have to talk to." Ethan grumbled.

"I'm ok with that." Fate shrugged. She and Ethan took the first room.

"_What_?" Jesse froze.

"Relax West; I'm not going to do much other than sleep." Ethan told him.

"Want to be roommates?" Allie grinned at Flo.

"Why not?" Flo shrugged, and the two girls took the second room.

"Tommy?" Troy looked to his brother.

"Sure." Tommy said complacently, and the brothers got the third room.

That left Jesse, Quinton and Sky. "I guess we're the group of three." Jesse shrugged. The three of them walked into the final room. There was a mirror, a bunk bed, a small table, and a window. Other than that, the room was empty.

"I got top bunk!" Jesse shouted, and raced to the top.

"Bottom." Quinton called, and flopped down on the mattress. They both looked at Sky. "Guess you'll have to sleep on the floor dude." Jesse laughed.

"Alright." Sky said casually and quite literally. He plopped down on the floor, folded his arms behind his head, and fell asleep within ten seconds.

"And I thought _I _was the weird one." Quinton shook his head.

"Sky's alright." Jesse grinned. "He just doesn't understand some things. Like, he takes just about everything literally. When we were leaving Corey's, I told him it was time to hit the road, and he actually punched the freakin' rode."

"Because he was kept in stasis so long, his body aged past his mind." Quinton nodded.

The dog that they picked up in The Hub, whom Sky had named Krypto, came walking into the room. The dog curled up next to Sky and fell asleep with its head on its chest.

"I like the dog." Jesse admitted.

"How the hell are we going to feed it? We can barely feed ourselves!" Quinton argued.

"Dude, eventually it might be feeding us." Jesse laughed.

A silence formed between the two. When Jesse finally spoke, his tone was a bit more serious. "Why do you think Fate and Ethan wanted a room together?"

"Because Fate's shy and Ethan's antisocial. They don't have to speak to each other, and that's enough for them." Q shrugged.

"Yeah, but you know Ethan hates me… and Fate's all mad at me right now… what if they like, have sex just to piss me off?"

"I really doubt that's going to happen Jesse."

"I'd do it."

"Jesse, that proves absolutely nothing."

"Why not?"

"Because you would screw that dog if it didn't have a penis."

"Well you almost screwed a fish, so shut up!"

"Flo is _not _a fish!"

"And Elvis isn't alive, but that doesn't make him less awesome."

"What does that have to do with anything? Anything at all?"

"Just shut up and listen to me a minute!" Jesse shouted. "I really messed up with Fate, bro. And now her and Ethan are probably having a party in the bone-zone right on the other side of this wall."

"Jesse, I can almost guarantee you that that is not going to happen."

"Almost?"

"Well, there's always a chance…"

"Not helping Q."

"Huh…" Quinton sighed. "Why is Fate mad at you in the first place?"

"I don't even know dude! I tried talking to her, and she just yelled at me and told me to leave."

"She's probably on her period." Q shrugged.

"Yeah, that makes sense. That's when girls always spout meaningless nonsense."

"Yup, it's why I hate nature."

**Allie and Flo's Room**

"Do you think I should cut my hair shorter?" Flo played with the ends of her slivery hair, which hung past her shoulders.

"I like it how it is." Allie shrugged.

"What do you think Quinton would like?"

"Quinton?" Allie grinned. "I think Q would like you even if you shaved your head and grew a beard."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Flo laughed.

"I'm really glad you two are together by the way. You've got no idea how shy Quinton was before… he barely even talked to me and Tommy while we were growing up, he just shut himself away in the library from the day he learned how to read."

"Well he's still not exactly a master of social conduct." Flo smiled.

"Well, that's ok. None of us really are." Allie shrugged. "So…"

"What?"

"Ok, random question; if you and Q weren't together… who else on the team would you want to date?"

"Hmm…" Flo thought it over for a moment. "Troy's pretty hot. Not to mention he's actually a likeable guy, which scores him points against most other guys around here. And Sky… Sky is freakin' gorgeous. His immaturity kind of ruins it though."

"Yeah. So… what about Tommy?"

"Nah. I mean, Tommy's good looking and everything, but he's a classic case of damaged goods. He's too dark for me I guess."

"I don't know. I kind of like it." Allie grinned. "He's got so much bottled up emotion… if I could just get him to let it out now and then, it would make a world of difference."

"Oh great, you're one of _those _chicks." Flo rolled her eyes.

"What does that mean?" Allie looked up at her.

"It means you like a challenge. You always go for the screwed up guys and try to 'fix' them."

"Well… I can't really deny that." Allie admitted. "So what about Jesse and Fate, huh? So cute!" She quickly changed the subject.

"It won't last. Jesse will screw it up first chance he gets."

"Oh come on, Jesse is so sweet."

"If you say so." Flo allowed her gaze to wander. "Besides, sweet doesn't always cut it. And not to be rude, but I don't think Jesse has much more to offer."

"Well…" Allie pursed her lips. "He _does _vibrate."

"Oh…" Flo's eyes widened. "Never thought about that."

The two girls laughed, when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Sighing, Allie rolled off her bed and walked over. She opened the door with a slight element of caution, and on the other side were Quinton Sage and Jesse West.

"Speak of the devil…" Flo muttered.

"What's up?" Allie asked.

"Can we sleep here?" Quinton yawned.

"Why…?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with your room?" Flo added.

"Sky started snoring…" Jesse began. "And then his super-breath kicked in and suddenly we were pressed against the ceiling by a freakin' snore-nado!"

"Did you try… I don't know… waking him up?" Allie reasoned.

"Yes, we tried!" Jesse threw up his arms. "I kicked him in the face, and I'm pretty sure all I did was break my big toe!"

"Ugh." Allie rolled her eyes. "And is there a reason you came to the only room with two girls in it?"

"Because you love me…?" Jesse tried.

"Quinton can stay." Flo piped up.

"Thanks babe." Q began to enter, but Allie stopped him.

"I don't think so. I've seen what you two do together, and I don't need to be sleeping on a bunk-bed with it." She shook her head.

"Well, that's a simple fix." Jesse grinned. "You and I could just do that too. Then nobody feels left out!"

"Why don't you try Fate's room?"

"Because Ethan is in there, and I fear for my life."

"Can we please just spend the night in here? Sky's dog keeps farting!" Quinton added.

"Actually, that wasn't the dog…" Jesse dropped his gaze.

"Goodbye, boys." Allie groaned, and shut the door in their faces.

Jesse and Q stood in the hallway for a moment. "Want to try Tommy's room?" Q suggested.

"No, Tommy would just tell me how stupid I am and Troy would laugh." Jesse grumbled. "And Fate's in there with Ethan, so-" Suddenly Jesse froze. "Dude! We need to try Fate's room right now!"

"I thought you said you would rather nail your balls to your leg than sleep in a room with Ethan?" Quinton raised an eyebrow.

"I would, trust me. But they can't do anything they'll regret if we're in there watching them!"

"Jesse, if they were going to do something like that, which I promise you they won't, then why would they let us in at all?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right." The speedster groaned.

"Maybe we could pick Sky up, and move him outside." Q suggested.

"Are you crazy? That dude is ripped, he probably weights like, three hundred pounds just in muscle mass."

"Hmmm." Q sighed. "Well I can't sleep on hard wood floors. At least there's grass outside."

"Yeah, I guess." Jesse agreed reluctantly. "Fine, let's sleep outside."

**Ruins of Gotham – West End – Same Time**

Corey Jones phased through the wall of the old brick building that had once been a jail. He looked around the halls carefully for signs of trouble, before finally becoming visible again. "All clear." He said into his radio.

Connor Queen, Chris Magnus and Mckayla Sanders slipped in silently through the window. The four people regrouped at Corey's position. "Why would Alex be here?" Chris asked skeptically.

"I don't know." Corey shook his head. "But every lead we've gotten points to this place."

"I think it's a waste of time even looking for Alex." Connor spat. "The son of a bitch betrayed us, that's all there is to it."

"Like it or not, Tommy's plan is a damn good one. But we need Alex Luthor to pull it off." Corey crossed his arms. "Those thugs I interrogated said they saw a man in a black jacket, wearing a blank-slate mask, come into this building. It definitely matches the description, but I've done a mental scan for thoughts… there's nothing to be found."

"Well, Alex always was good at blocking you out." Mckayla reasoned.

"I know, but he had to be prepared first. He _shouldn't _know we're looking for him."

"Think about this one; when we _do _find him, how do we convince him to actually help us?"

"Alex hates Apokolips as much as we do. If he sees an opportunity to strike them, he's going to take it." Chris said.

"I think we're on a wild goose chase Corey." Mckayla looked around. "A ruined county jail? Not exactly the kind of place Alex would hang out."

"Coming from an expert, right?" Connor shot her a glare. "After all, you know _everything _about Alex. I'm surprised you haven't already led us to him!"

"My relationship with him ended a long time ago." Mckayla glared back. "Way before he ever betrayed us."

"If you say so."

"Just what are you implying, Queen?"

"Well, we know that there is a traitor among the group, a spy for Apokolips… and I seem to remember that you knew Alex was the son of Lex Luthor, but yet you didn't tell any of us. You tell us because you didn't want to get your little boyfriend in any trouble." Connor took a step toward her. "Maybe you two really were meant for each other."

"Are you calling me a traitor?" Mckayla's expression became angry.

"At this point, all I'm calling you is a liar. Don't do anything to make me think worse of you." Connor stared at her a few seconds more, and then backed off. "Let's get out of here. We're wasting time."

Suddenly, Chris's new robotic arm flung forward and grabbed Connor by the neck! Chris lifted Connor into the air and began to choke him. "Chris! What the hell are you doing?" Corey shouted.

"It's not me!" Chris shouted back, a look of terror on his face. "Something's moving my arm for me!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came on over the intercom. The voice of Alexander Luthor. "It's called magnetism, Chris. I thought you were the science whiz, shouldn't you know this?" Alex's voice taunted.

"Put Connor down you bastard!" Corey screamed.

"I will, after I know you'll leave." Alex's voice replied from the speakers. A camera jutted out from the wall, and the lens focused in on Mckayla. "Hey babe, looking hot as ever I see."

"Go to hell Alex." Mckayla gritted her teeth.

Connor's face was turning blue now; he was struggling frantically trying to get air, trying to break free of Chris's grasp. Chris himself tried to fight it, but found that he had no control whatsoever.

"Here's the deal," Alex began, "You're all going to leave this building within the next ten seconds, and walk away. If you don't, Chris will crush blondie's throat. Got it?"

"Show yourself Luthor!" Corey roared.

"So you can strike me with one of your psychic blasts, and throw off my concentration long enough for Connor to get to safety? And then you can all spout some witty line, and take me down with your wonderful teamwork? I'd rather not."

"Alex, we want to make a deal!" Mckayla called out. "Tommy has a plan, and-"

"Tommy's always making plans. But you know what I noticed? They never actually work." Alex interrupted. "Hey, there's something else he has in common with you, Corey! You know, along with being so gullible that you border on stupidity?"

"You think you're pretty tough while you're talking through a speaker. Lets see you back it up in person!" Corey taunted.

"Trying to coax me into a fight won't work, Corey. I know I can't beat you in a fight. Magnetism won't affect you if you're intangible, blah-blah-blah. Which is why I'm not actually going to fight you… I'm just going to kill all your friends from far away, until you get the message and leave me alone."

"Will you at least hear what we have to say?" Mckayla called.

"I've tried that before. You all started shooting at me."

"Alex… please." Corey's voice was softer now, almost desperate. "I know you don't want to kill Connor, he's your friend!"

"You really still think that? Man, what part of I-was-lying-the-whole-time don't you understand?" Alex laughed.

"Now you're just lying to yourself Alex." Corey looked into the camera. "Stop this… please."

"Well, since you asked nicely…"

Suddenly, Chris was jerked around by his arm, and he threw Connor into the ruins of an old cell. Then Chris was forced to grab Corey by the collar of his shirt. The robotic arm pulled both men into the cell along with Connor, and then the bars slid shut, locking closed. Alex Luthor appeared at the end of the hall, and pointed to Mckayla. "I want to talk to her. The rest of you, sit nicely in that cell for a while."

Alex walked up to Mckayla, and looked into her eyes. "Ok, I'm listening. Convince me."

**Birds of Prey Clock Tower – Later That Night**

Jesse and Quinton lay in the grass outside the tower. The grass was dead, and brittle, but it was still more comfortable than a hard wood floor. Jesse gazed up at the stars for a while, mesmerized by their glow. "I get it now… stars are cool."

"You know most of them are satellites." Quinton yawned.

"No I don't Q, but thank you for ruining yet another innocent childhood memory."

"Just stating the facts."

"What was that Troy said…? Something about beauty that they can't take away from us?"

"He said that the stars are the one thing Apokolips can't take… I believe his exact words were… 'Proof that there's some beauty even in Hell.'"

"Beauty in Hell…" Jesse repeated softly. "I bet Fate likes stars."

"Hell reminded you of Fate?"

"No, beauty did."

"This is uncharacteristically mature of you Jesse."

"What is?"

"You know what I'm talking about. You and Fate."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You really love her, don't you?"

"Q… I learned a long time ago that you should never, ever fall in love. Because love is just pain waiting to happen." Jesse glanced down at his locket, and thought about the picture of his family inside of it. "But yeah… Fate's special, that's for sure."

"Love is an abstract concept anyway. I've never really been able to wrap my head around it." Quinton shrugged.

"What about Flo?"

"Flo is… well, like you said… special." Quinton paused.

Suddenly, Jesse heard a scream from Fate and Ethan's room. Then another. Fate's scream! "Oh no!" Jesse jumped to his feet. "Oh no… Ethan, I know you are _not _doin' it with my girl!" He took off toward the window.

"Jesse, wait! Don't jump to conclusions! Maybe he's just killing her or something!" Quinton shouted.

Jesse stopped by the window. It was dark inside, but he could vaguely make out a large, pulsating mound on the bed. "Son of a bitch!" Jesse screamed. He wrapped his arm up in his jacket, and punched the window, shattering the glass.

Jesse then crawled in through the opening, and ran for the bed. "Ethan, I am going to kick your ass so hard!"

Jesse grabbed the covers on the bed, and ripped them off. As soon as he did, he had to duck, because a ball of fire erupted at him. The speedster tumbled to the floor, startled, his hair singed. Suddenly, a muscular, hulking creature with scaly yellow-brown skin emerged.

It had horns on its head, and its eyes were a bright purple. Its arms were covered in purple tattoos. And its fanged mouth was billowing with smoke, having just breathed a fireball at Jesse.

"What the hell…?" Jesse's jaw dropped. The creature swept its clawed hand outward and struck the red-head, sending him sailing into the wall. His back cracked hard against the wood, and he slid into the corner in a head.

The monster let out a low, guttural roar before leaping out the window, and disappearing into the night. Jesse's hands were shaking, his breathing was heavy. He wobbled onto his feet, and suddenly a hand planted itself on his shoulder.

Jesse jumped and let out a terrified squeal. A second hand quickly cupped his mouth. "Be quiet you idiot!" Ethan hissed.

"Ethan!" Jesse pulled back. "What the F just happened?"

"You tell me!" Ethan gaped. "Fate was moaning, and-"

"Oh, you sick bastard." Jesse glared.

"She was moaning _in her sleep_, Jesse." Ethan sighed. "So I tried to wake her up, figure out what was wrong… and I noticed this weird purple tattoo on her arm was glowing, and suddenly that monster threw across the room!"

"Wait, so… did the monster, like, eat Fate or something?" Jesse looked back at the bed, confused.

"No you idiot, do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Huh…"

"Oh my God Jesse." Ethan groaned and looked the speedster in the eyes. "Fate _is _the monster."


	20. Monsters

**I've finally finished this update, sorry for the ridiculous wait. It's been a struggle balancing school and life in general while trying to keep up on five ongoing fanfics, but I will absolutely try to get the next update up sooner. **

**To make up for the long wait, this chapter is pretty lengthy and covers a lot of ground. There are some minor inconsistencies from previous chapters due to some slight changes I've decided to make to the story, but its nothing too serious; I doubt most of you will even notice.**

**So without further ado, please read and review ;)**

Chapter Twenty: Monsters 

"What the hell just happened?" Ethan gaped, staring at the smoldering hole that the transformed Fate had just left in the wall.

"PMS?" Jesse suggested. Immediately, Quinton and Ethan glared at the redhead.

"Jesse," Quinton sighed, "Fate just turned into a seven foot monster and blasted a hole in the wall. What _exactly _do you think PMS does to a girl?"

"I don't know, I'm not a freakin' doctor!" Jesse threw his arms up in the air. "The point is, my girlfriend just turned into an effing monster!"

"Girlfriend? I thought she dumped you already?" Ethan frowned.

"You are so missing the point dude!"

"Actually, this makes perfect sense." Quinton said in a pondering tone of voice.

"Q, I know that between the two of us, you're the smart one, and I am willing to accept that. But tell me, how on God's green earth did what just happened make any sort of sense at all?"

"Her father was Jason Blood. Considering his body was inhabited by the demon Etrigan, I suppose it's possible that some of that demonic gene was passed on to Fate as well."

"Are you telling me that she's half demon?"

"If my hypothesis proves to be accurate, than she's actually one-third demon. But yes."

"That explains the weird tattoos, and why it seems like she doesn't gets any sleep some nights." Jesse began to put the pieces together in his head. "This is even worse than PMS! You can't fix demonism by having sex underwater!"

"Oh Jesse," Quinton groaned, "I really need to draw you a diagram or something."

"A diagram of what?" Jesse frowned, obviously confused.

"Guys!" Ethan barked. "We really need to concentrate on the problem at hand here. I say we wake up Tommy and-"

"No!" Jesse interrupted. "Tommy cannot know about this."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because then he'll be all, 'I told you not to trust Fate, she's got secrets and she could be dangerous and blah-blah-blah I'm an angst-filled dick'."

"I really doubt those are the words he would use." Q objected. "It would be more like, 'We should have seen this coming. I better blame it all on myself even though I had nothing to do with it, because I'm dark and broody but have a soft side that I think only Allie is aware of, which is why I push away her attempts at affection because I'm terrified of my own insecurities being fully understood, and-;"

"Q! We get the point!" Ethan barked. "Fine, we won't tell Tommy. What do you suggest we do then?"

"Ok, we're going to wake up the girls, and get them to cover for us with Tommy and Troy. And in the meantime, we'll track Fate down." Jesse reasoned.

"But what happens when we find her?" Quinton asked.

"Yeah, do we like, kill her or something?" Ethan shrugged.

"No! I'll do that heart-warming touchy thing where I'm all like, 'Fate, I know you're still in there somewhere! Please listen to me!' And then she'll fight the transformation and we'll have a passionate kiss, and everybody lives happily ever after."

"What if that doesn't work?"

"Well then we're all screwed." Jesse shrugged.

"Sounds like a solid plan to me." Ethan nodded sarcastically.

"Honestly, since Jesse came up with, I'm just surprised it doesn't involve him getting laid."

"Oh, that part comes later on." Jesse assured them. "After the big happy ending, I get _my _happy ending."

"Well, let's get moving then. She couldn't have gotten far." Quinton reasoned.

"Holy crap, you guys are seriously going with my plan?" Jesse smiled.

"Why not? It's not like the situation can get much crazier." Ethan shrugged.

"You have a very limited imagination." Jesse smiled. "Let's do this!"

**Allie and Flo's Room – Two Minutes Later**

Quinton and Jesse crept around to the window of Allie and Flo's room. "Well? Go wake them up." Q pressured.

"Why me?"

"It's your plan."

"What if they're naked or something?"

"Jesse, would you honestly be bothered by that?"

"Good point."

"Anyway, it wouldn't hurt you, since you obviously have little understanding of female anatomy."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jesse glared. "I'm pretty sure that the stars don't have genders, Quinton!"

"That's astronomy, not anatomy you dumbass."

"Then what's anatomy?"

"Just never mind and go wake them up please."

"Ok, thank you." Jesse turned and began to vibrate rapidly, phasing his molecules through the wall and into the dark bedroom. He crept over to one of the sleeping figures that he saw, unable to tell which girl it was. _I could totally get to second base right now_. He thought eagerly, but then quickly counteracted with, _Stay focused Jesse! If your plan works, you can score a home run with Fate later._

"Hey, wake up?" He whispered hoarsely, shaking the sleeping girl. No response. He raised his voice. "Yo, wake up please."

Suddenly, a crushing blow made contact with Jesse's crotch, and he stumbled back into the wall with a loud thud, suppressing screams of pain. Those screams were released when a foot made contact with his face, dropping him to the floor. A light flicked on, burning his eyes. "What the hell are you- _Jesse_?" Allie looked down at the redhead with a surprised look on her face, still in her fighting stance.

"What's going on?" Flo asked sleepily, sitting up in her bed.

"Jesse apparently decided to become a bed intruder." Allie crossed her arms. "What exactly are you doing?"

"I thought Ethan was giving it to Fate, but then Fate turned into a monster and I got really scared and peed a little, and then she blew a hole in the wall and jumped off somewhere and she's part demon and I don't understand female astrology." Jesse rattled off in a pain-filled daze.

"Um… what?" Allie gave the speedster a confused smile.

"Fate has apparently been hiding a demonic form from us; one with potentially malicious tendencies. She escaped somewhere, and now we want to try and find her." Quinton explained calmly as he entered the room.

"I'm still not really following this."

"Look, Fate's a monster, alright? And I need to find her before she does any monstery-stuff, but Tommy can't find out because he's Tommy and he'll react like Tommy. So while we're out looking for her, we need you and Flo to cover for us and make sure he and Troy don't know what's really going on." Jesse breathed. "Get it now?"

"I think so, unfortunately." Allie sighed.

"You want us to cover from you with Tommy and Troy?" Flo frowned. "That might be kind of hard. Troy's a human lie detector, and Tommy is the son of the world's greatest detective."

"Please, I need you guys to do this for me." Jesse begged.

"I never said I wouldn't do it." Flo smiled. "I love a challenge."

"I'm in." Allie grinned. "Just don't take too long, kay' speedy?"

"Thank you so much." Jesse told them with powerful sincerity, and then ran back to Quinton.

"Can we go now?" Ethan grumbled. "The sun's going to be up soon."

"Sounds good to me." Jesse nodded. "Let's get moving!"

"Which way do we go?" Q questioned.

Silence.

"I… have no idea."

"Seriously? You put together this plan and you never thought where we would actually look?" Quinton sighed.

"You know, for a guy who calls himself The Answer, you sure ask a lot of questions!"

"Alright, I've got this handled." Ethan said with only slight confidence.

"How?" Q questioned.

"Well, ok… magic is basically just another form of energy, right?"

"In theory, yes."

"I can see the electromagnetic spectrum, so if Fate's leaving behind a trail of energy… I should be able to track her down."

"Well hurry up and do it then!" Jesse fumed.

"Alright, alright, hold on." Ethan's eyes lit up with a bright blue glow, and after looking around a moment, he flashed a smile. "I think I've got her. But its faint… she's moving fast. I'll be she's cleared several miles already."

"We'll never catch her on foot then."

"I can." Jesse piped up.

"And you really want to face her alone?"

"No… but what choice do we have?"

"Maybe I can help." A fourth voice penetrated the air behind the group, startling all of them. They turned to see Sky, walking toward them sleepily.

"You?" Ethan frowned.

"Yeah, why not? I'm almost as fast as Jesse, and I could probably hold my own against her if I have to. Jesse and I can catch up to her now and keep her in one area until you guys catch up; then we can all deal with it together."

"But you can't see her trail of magic like I can." Ethan protested.

"No, but I do have super hearing and I can see heat signatures. If I combine all that, I'll probably be able to pinpoint a relative location."

"I suppose it's the best idea we've got." Q nodded. "You two keep Fate from getting any further, and Ethan and I will catch up as soon as we can."

"Well then what are waiting for? Let's do this!" Jesse shouted.

"Race you there?" Sky grinned.

"You know it blondie."

And in a blur, the two were gone, with Ethan and Quinton taking off behind them.

**Unknown Location – Same Time**

Gorilla Grodd paced back and forth about the hidden lair. His defeat at the hands of the children still would not cease to humiliate him. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a boom tube thundered open before him, and out stepped Grayven, son of Darkseid.

"What took you so long?" Grodd barked.

"It takes a while to sneak off an Apokoliptian ship." Grayven said evenly. "Obviously, my father cannot be allowed to know about our connection."

"Speaking of your _father, _I heard rumors of him showing up here on Earth. What's that all about?"

"Ah, yes. Apparently he came to battle the children who have proven so bothersome."

"They must be dead then?"

"Surprisingly, no. Due to some interference from Connor Queen with a Radion bullet, my father was forced into a retreat."

"Queen? How did he get his hands on Radion?"

"That's what we aren't sure of. We also don't know how he escaped from The Hole. It's currently under investigation by Kalibak and his crew."

"Interesting." Grodd muttered. "So what have you come here to tell me?"

"That its time to put our plans in action. The beast has returned."

**Wooded Trail – Same Time**

Troy Prince walked briskly through the woods, his head down, and his mind wandering. He liked to take walks; it helped to clear his mind. And that was especially helpful when he didn't want to think about the things that happened to be on his mind.

He heard a faint rustling of leaves behind him, and for a moment glanced back, but chose to ignore and kept going, keeping his senses alert. He heard more rustling, and held his breath.

Troy waited for the right moment, and then spun around with lightning speed, grabbing his stalker by the throat. He pressed the assailant against a tree and shouted, "Who are you?" But as soon as he laid eyes on the stalker's face, he immediately loosed his grip and backed away. "Flo?"

Flo fell to the ground, coughing and massaging her neck. "Geez Troy! That was a bit uncalled for don't you think?"

"Sorry. I'm kind of on edge right now."

"I can tell, Mr. Kung-Fu Death Grip." Flo got to her feet slowly, and brushed some of her silvery hair away from her face.

"What were you following me for?"

"I just wanted to see what you were up to." She shrugged, "I don't really know you all that well."

"That could be because your mouth is always too full of Quinton's tongue to talk to me." Troy smiled.

"Yeah…" Flo blushed a little. "So what are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Just thinking about some stuff." Troy shrugged.

"Well thank you for being so descriptive about it."

"It's nothing all that important." He laughed a little, then paused and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Something just moved about forty feet to the left of us. Too big to be a rabbit, too discrete to be a deer. Someone's spying on us."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Troy nodded. "Talk about something innocuous."

"I don't know what that means." She admitted sheepishly.

"Just be casual. Don't alert them that we know they're watching us; just keep your senses sharp and wait for the right moment."

"Ok." Flo raised her voice again, "So those tacos were pretty good earlier."

"Yeah, best I've ever had."

"Well you know, I am an amazing cook."

Flo could hear it now; rustling in the leaves, slowly growing closer. Once they were almost within attack range Troy said, "Now."

Immediately, the two lunged in the direction of the rustling and made contact with two very small figures. Troy knocked them down with ease, and Flo created a water sword which she pointed at them.

"Ouch!" A young boy whined.

"Holy crap, she's got a sword!" A second chimed in.

"What the hell…?" Troy muttered. The clouds parted and some moonlight shined in, revealing the children to be Kio and Prome, the two kids that had awakened along with Sky.

"What are they doing here?" Flo gasped.

"Not a clue." Troy eyed them carefully. "How did you kids get here?"

"We followed you guys from Corey's place." The red haired boy, Prome, said.

"Yeah, we liked you way better than Corey and his friends." Kio, the blue haired boy, added.

"_Great_." Troy rolled his eyes. "Alright Flo, lets get these kids back to the tower and hope to God they aren't being followed."

"Followed?" Prome raised an eyebrow.

"Do you even realize we're wanted fugitives, kid? Do you know how much attention you could attract if you aren't careful?"

"We're sorry." Kio dropped his gaze.

"Troy, lighten a little." Flo whispered.

"Huh…" He sighed. "Alright, follow me. I'll take you guys to the tower, and we can all decide what to do with you as a group."

**Old Birds of Prey Tower**

Tommy leaned back on the bed, which hadn't been used in nearly two decades. Troy was out taking his nightly walk, and Tommy had just finished a much needed shower. It was funny how after not showering for almost three months, being clean felt alien to him. Not a bad feeling by any means, just an unusual one.

There was a soft knock on the door, penetrating Tommy's thoughts and jolting him back to reality with a surprised jerk. Hesitantly, he walked over the door and pulled it open. He was surprised to see Allie on the other side, wearing nothing but an oversize T-shirt and what looked like boxer shorts. Her golden blond hair was a mess; completely unkempt and falling over her shoulders in a mass of tangles. There was a bruise on her chin left over from the fight with Darkseid, and her emerald green eyes were weary. And all Tommy could think was, _Beautiful._

He noticed the slight look of surprise on her face, and realized that still hadn't put his shirt back on. "Oh, uh… hi." He said uncomfortably.

"Hey." She offered her famous smile. "Sorry if I look as terrible as I think I do. I really had to get out of those old clothes, and this was all I could find."

"It's all right." Tommy pursed his lips, wondering if he should tell just how 'all right' it really was. He decided against it. "So what's going on?"

"I was just lonely." She lied. "Plus, it feels like I never get to talk to you anymore." That part was true.

"Well, come on in I guess." Tommy stepped out of the way so she could enter the room, and closed the door softly behind her.

"Where's Troy?"

"Taking a walk. He likes to take walks and give himself time to think."

"As opposed to your method of brooding?" She smiled.

"Yeah, I guess so." He managed a small laugh, which wasn't something he did very often. But when Allie was talking, it was hard not to smile. That was the weird thing about her; her mood was contagious. It had always been that way. No matter how bad things were, Allie had a way of people happy just by being there.

Allie sat down on the foot of Tommy's bed. And while doing so, she snuck a quick look at his abs; she'd almost forgotten how ripped Tommy was, after spending hours on end every day in the training rooms back at the cave. He wasn't Lou Ferrigno buff, but he had an impressive build.

"Why's the floor wet?" She asked, hoping to distract herself with a less thought-provoking topic.

"I just got out of the shower. There aren't any towels in this place that haven't been chewed up by rats, so I had to air dry."

"Your shower works?"

"Yeah."

"Lucky! The one in my room is all rusted out and won't turn on."

"You could use this one, I guess." Tommy shrugged.

"Just a minute…" Allie stood up and reached into the bag she had brought. "There's another reason I came here."

"What's that?"

"Well… we kind of missed Christmas… and we always celebrated in the cave, even though we didn't really have any decoration or anything. And I don't really see any reason to break tradition, so I got you something…"

"A present?" Tommy paused. "Allie, remember when you gave me a birthday present not too long ago? And it wound up with me being stupid and leaving the cave on a stolen motorcycle… and then when I came back I accidentally led Deathstroke right to us, and that kind of started all of our problems?"

"Well, this gift isn't as elaborate, I promise." She smiled. "I really don't think you can cause much trouble with this."

Allie pulled an object out of the bag slowly. It didn't take long for Tommy to figure out what it was. A notebook. A thick, three-subject spiral notebook with a black cover. Written on the cover in elegant handwriting were the words, Tommy's Journal.

"A journal…?" Tommy took it in his hands.

"Yeah. I know you lost your video diary while we were fighting Darkseid, and I know how much you love to record your thoughts and stuff, so I went looking and found that at Corey's base. I wanted to give it to you sooner, but there was some stuff written in it already so I go through and erase everything, and-"

"It's perfect. Thank you."

There was a long pause between the two of them, before Tommy started laughing. "What is it?" Allie asked.

"I just feel like a complete jackass now. I totally forgot about Christmas."

"It's ok."

"No, hold on…" Tommy reached into his pocket. "It's pretty beaten up, but here." He pulled out a small photograph, preserved in a protective plastic sleeve.

Allie recognized the photo immediately. It was taken a few years ago, while they still lived in the cave. Sort of a family picture. In the middle there was Tommy, looking grumpy as usual, with his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face. To the left was Quinton, with his orange shades covering his eyes, and lips pursed into a bored little line. On the right was Allie, smiling as usual, giving Tommy a playful shove as the photo was taken. And behind the three of them, there was Dinah, looking young and happy.

"Oh my God… Tommy, you kept this?" Allie asked in disbelief.

"I've always liked it." He admitted with a faint grin. "And I know you don't have any pictures of your mom, so I thought you might like to have it."

"Tommy, thank you so much."

They stared at each other a moment and Allie couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to that brief kiss they'd shared back when they were twelve. And coincidentally, Tommy's mind was on the same thing.

Their moment together was interrupted when the door swung open, and Troy stepped inside. He paused awkwardly when he saw Tommy shirtless and Allie blushing like he'd never seen. "Um… did I interrupt something?"

"Not at all." Tommy muttered, turning to face his brother. "Back so soon?"

"My walk got cut short. Flo and I found these." Troy ushered Kio and Prome into the room.

"How did they get here?" Tommy asked in confusion.

"Apparently they followed us from Corey's." Troy folded his arms. "I figured I better bring them here before they get killed by some patrolling Parademons or something."

"Where are they supposed to sleep? All the rooms are already filled."

"I don't know, maybe we can find some old newspaper or something?" Troy suggested.

"Newspaper? Really?" Allie frowned.

"You guys are terrible with kids." Flo shook her head.

"Are you guy's hungry?" Allie asked the children.

"Yeah." The two boys said in unison.

"Allie, I don't think we should feed them." Tommy interrupted.

"Why not?"

"Well, they woke up in a Cadmus testing lab… we aren't even sure if they're human."

"So what? They aren't gremlins Tommy! I don't think it's going to hurt anything if we give them some food."

"Alright, have it your way." Tommy backed off.

"If they're from Cadmus, maybe Quinton can find some information on them." Troy suggested.

"Good idea." Tommy nodded. "I'll go wake him up and-"

"No!" Flo and Allie interjected in unison.

"Why not…?"

"Well…" Flo paused. "Wouldn't it be better if at least half of us got a good nights sleep? You know, in case we're attacked or something?"

"I suppose it can wait until morning." Troy agreed.

"Ok, let's go to the pantry." Tommy looked to Allie with a raised eyebrow, "What do kids eat?"

"You're kidding me right?"

"You know what? Allie and I can deal with Prome and Kio. You two just… do something else." Flo suggested. "Come on guys, let's go get something to eat." She gestured to the children, and they happily followed Allie and Flo out.

"Good save." Allie whispered once the door was shut behind them.

"Yeah, I just hope Q and the others get back before morning."

**Mountain Trail – Same Time**

Quinton and Ethan hiked quickly toward Fate's location, hoping to meet up with Sky and Jesse. "This is ridiculous! We're never going to get there on foot." Ethan grumbled. "Why on Earth did we think was a good idea again?"

"Well, Einstein once said; 'Only two things are limitless, the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe.' I think we may have just proved him right."

"Is there anything you don't know about Q?"

"Theoretically there has to be, considering knowledge has a limitless number of factors and variables. But in my experience, no. I haven't encountered anything of the sort."

"Ok then."

"So what's your deal?"

"My deal…?"

"You got hit by one of Darkseid's Omega Beams, and yet you seem completely fine. Superman could barely survive those blasts, I strongly doubt you got that lucky. What exactly happened?"

"You want to know the truth?" Ethan paused.

"Truth would be preferable, yes."

"I think I absorbed it."

Quinton stopped in his tracks. "You _absorbed _the Omega Beams?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you could only absorb electricity?"

"So did I, but when they hit me I just… took it all in. And before I blacked out, I felt… different."

"Different how?"

"Powerful. Invincible, even. I felt like I could have taken him on right then an there, no problem."

"But then you blacked out?"

"Exactly."

"So what exactly do you think happened that allowed you to absorb the Omega Beams?"

"I don't know." Ethan shook his head. "But there's something else… I haven't had to eat since then."

"Ethan, that was three days ago."

"I know. I haven't even gotten hungry. And the doctor at Corey's place said he couldn't hear my heart beating. Its like my body is dead, but I'm still going. I can't explain it any better than that. I'm not sure how, but the beams changed me."

"Ethan, you should have told me sooner. I need to look into this, there could be serious repercussions. Darkseid is the only being in recorded history whose body has been able to contain the Omega Energy, everyone who has tried has been incinerated. If you actually did absorb it, there could be serious consequences."

"I didn't want anybody to know about it, ok? There are already enough trust issues among the team. Tommy knows about it, and now you know about it. That's how I want it to stay for a while, ok?"

"Ethan, this could be dangerous information."

"Which is why, until we know more about what happened to me, I want it kept on a need-to-know basis. Alright?"

"Last time I made a promise like that, it was to Alex, that I wouldn't tell anyone who his father was. That obviously didn't turn out well."

"Quinton, please. Just for a while, don't tell anybody."

"Ok, I won't." Q sighed, "But at the slightest inclination of trouble, I'm telling everyone."

"Fair enough."

Suddenly, a bright set of lights appeared off in the distance, along with the rumbling of motors, fast approaching.

"Get down!" Q whispered as he and Ethan both dove into the bushes. They watched quietly as a patrol of Apokoliptian Hunter Drones passed by on the ridge below them, riding on what looked like demonic motorcycles.

"A patrol team." Ethan whispered.

"Looking for us, no doubt." Q nodded.

"Well they're heading the opposite way of the tower, so that's good."

"Definitely." Q counted four drones. "Want to take their rides?"

"Seriously?"

"Hey, it's faster than walking."

"Alright, let's do this."

On the count of three, Ethan and Quinton leapt down from the ridge they were on kicked out one drone each, smashing the heads off of their steely shoulders. Immediately, the remaining drones veered around and readied their cannons. They fired, and Ethan stepped quickly in front, allowing his body to absorb the blasts! "Thanks for the juice, lunkheads!" Ethan fired a powerful shot back and blasted a hole in one of the drones.

The final drone prepared to launch a flare to signal backup, but before it could, Quinton leapt forward with a water-blade generated from his gauntlet, and sliced it in half. "Too easy." Q readjusted his orange sun glasses, and kicked away the scrap left by the destroyed drone.

Ethan and Q then mounted the less damaged of the Apokoliptian motorcycles, and prepared to take off. But as Quinton scanned the dash trying to decipher the control scheme, he realized something unsettling. There was a target pinpointed on the GPS… and it was very close to where Ethan estimated they would find Fate.

"Ethan… I don't think these drones were searching for _us_." Q said.

"What do you mean?"

"They already had a target pre-programmed. They were going after Fate."

**Outskirts of the Mountain Range – Twenty Minutes Later**

"You sure this where the heat trail leads to?" Jesse asked.

"It stops here." Sky said with certainty in his tone.

"Well, I don't see Fate anywhere. And I'm pretty sure her beast-mode would be hard to miss."

"Dude, the trail stops here. I don't know where she might have gone."

"That's what I get for relying on a Kryptonian I guess."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You guys think you're capable of anything, don't you? But then the moment push comes to shove, you can't even find the freaky demon-monster chick!"

"Get bent West."

"Whoa, Blondie grew some balls."

"Can you please not make fun of my hair, Strawberry Shortcake?"

"I've got to admit, that was pretty clever for some dumb blond."

"At least I have a soul ginger boy!"

"At least I have a brain, you glorified sunflower."

"Sunflower?"

"Yeah, you know, because you absorb sunlight and you're head is yellow?"

"You're really working against your own argument about the whole 'having a brain' thing, you know that Jesse?"

"Shut up!"

"Ooh, clever."

Jesse opened his mouth to make a comeback, and a monstrous roar erupted into the air. Sky looked at the speedster with wide eyes. "Dude, how did you do that?"

"That wasn't me stupid!" Jesse shouted, turning toward the tree line just in time to see a gigantic, yellow skinned monster with horns and fangs leap toward him. "Shit!" Jesse dodged at super speed, "Guess I owe you an apology Blondie."

"That's Fate?" Sky asked in awe.

"Yeah."

"Wow Jesse, you really know how to pick em'."

"She doesn't normally look like that, ok?"

The monster spat a large fireball at them, and the two barely managed to avoid it. It prepared to launch a second fireball, when Sky stepped forward. "I've got this!" And as the flame erupted, Sky unleashed a torrent of super-breath.

And when they made contact, the fire tripled in size, exploding toward Jesse and Sky like a bomb! "Oxygen expands flame you moron!" Jesse screamed, sprinting away from the torrent of fire.

"Well I'm sorry! They don't teach a science class at The Hole!"

Through the fire, the monster leapt forward and grabbed Jesse, its purple eyes gazing upon him with a daunting glare. In a voice that sounded like two people were speaking, it said, "Stupid child, you're strength proves mild. You dare to fight me, and soon dead you'll be!"

"Sorry Dr. Seuss," Jesse choked, "But I've got a different idea." He vibrated his molecules straight through the monster's hand, causing it to scream in pain as he escaped its clutches, just before Sky leapt in and drove his fist into its face.

Sky proceeded to pummel the monster mercilessly, but its strength rivaled his own and he was soon overpowered. The monster punched Sky into the ground and blasted him with hellfire. Screams erupted from the young Kryptonian, and Jesse zoomed in to pull him away from the flame.

Sky had severe burns on his chest and arms. He uttered in a shaky voice, "That really, really hurt."

"Yeah, that tends to happen when you're set on fire!"

"It shouldn't happen to _me _though, I'm invulnerable…"

"Oh yeah, I probably should have warned you ahead of time that Kryptonians are like, really weak against magic."

"Yeah, that would have been good to know."

Suddenly, as the beast prepared for another blast, the roar of engines pierced the air and suddenly, two large motorcycle-like vehicles rammed into it! And riding them were Ethan and Quinton.

Ethan gave the monster no time to recover, blasting it with a wave of electricity, but there seemed to be little effect. It smacked Ethan away and then attacked Quinton, smashing his water-shield with its left hand and flinging him several feet with its right.

"This thing is really freakin' tough." Jesse muttered.

"Jesse, silver!" Quinton shouted, dodging frantically around fireballs.

"What?"

"Etrigan was weak against silver! It's likely that Fate's demonic form inherited the weakness!"

"Silver…" Jesse evaded fireballs at high speed, the monster was firing them rapidly now, laughing maniacally as the forest burned down around them. "My locket is made of silver!" He quickly pulled his locket from underneath his shirt, the one he carried his family photo in… from before his family's death.

"Good luck getting close to it!" Sky shouted.

"Run around her at super speed."

"What?" Sky shouted. "What is that supposed to accomplish?"

"Just do it! I'll take care of the rest!"

"Whatever you say." Sky shrugged, and took off as fast as he could run. He began to circle around the demon at speeds far greater than that of sound. The demon attempted to strike him, but couldn't land a hit on his circular blur of a body.

And then something miraculous happened; the fire it was generating began to dissipate! The flame grew smaller and smaller, until eventually it was nonexistent.

"A vortex to suck away all the oxygen, therefore extinguishing the creature's fire… Jesse, that was brilliant!" Quinton shouted.

"Just because I don't like to play the smart guy doesn't mean I don't know how." Jesse smiled, then took off in a run. His super-fast eyes were able to keep up with Sky's movements, and Jesse jumped up at just the right time to bounce off of Sky's shoulders and fly high above the beast.

He clenched his locket in his fists, closes his eyes and said, "This is for you… Jessica." Then he plunged the locket forth and jammed it into the back of the monster's neck! The area began to smolder, and the monster shrieked in pain, thrashing around wildly. Jesse grabbed on tightly, and held the locket pressed against its skin, all the while praying that it would only harm the demon and not Fate.

The monster's yellow skin began to crack, and Sky stopped running, striking the creature with a powerful blow to the jaw that knocked it out. And after it was incapacitated, the creature slowly began to transform back into the unconscious form of Fate. Her clothes were ripped to shreds from the transformation, so Jesse quickly wrapped her up in his jacket.

He felt for a pulse, but found nothing. "Damn it…" Jesse grumbled, holding back the threat of tears. "Come on Fate, wake up. Please… wake up."

"Jesse…" Quinton put his hands on his friend's shoulder.

At that moment, the thunderous roar burst into the air, and a Boom Tube opened up a few feet away. From it stepped two large figures… Grayven and Gorilla Grodd.

"Oh crap…" Quinton stuttered.

"Who are they?" Sky asked.

"Bad news." Ethan gritted his teeth.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this a pleasant surprise." Grayven laughed, "You did all the hard work for us!"

"What do you want?" Jesse stood up, holding Fate in his arms.

"We want the beast." Grodd answered demandingly.

"Fate?" Jesse looked down.

"Unfortunately, the girl is part of the package." Grayven stepped forward. "I suggest you hand her over politely, and maybe then we'll decide to kill you quickly."

"Not a chance ugly!" Sky shouted, leaping toward Grayven.

"Sky, wait!" Q screamed, but it was too late. Grayven withdrew a piece of kryptonite and rammed it forward, jamming the radioactive rock deep into Sky's flesh!

Sky let out a scream of agony as the radiation immediately began to kill him, and Grayven simply flung the young Kryptonian onto the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" Ethan screamed, and prepared to attack, but Grodd blasted the hero with a poison dart that dropped him instantly.

"In case you couldn't tell, we came prepared." The ape smiled.

"Q, get her to safety." Jesse handed Fate carefully over to Quinton, and then erupted into a burst of speed like never before.

"Inertia!" Grayven shouted as the young speedster approached, and suddenly a yellow-orange blur collided with Jesse and struck him painfully in the stomach, putting the speedster on his knees. Jesse looked up to see Inertia, an evil clone of Bart Allen, standing above him with a wicked grin.

"Disappointing." Inertia seethed, kicking Jesse in the face. "I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight."

Quinton tried to run, but in a blur Inertia struck Q down and grabbed the unconscious body of Fate by the hair. He dragged her carelessly across the dirt, and brought her to Grayven.

"You've done well, Inertia." Grayven smiled, slinging Fate over his shoulder. The three villains then disappeared through the Boom Tube.

"Not gonna' happen!" Jesse screamed.

"Jesse, wait!" Quinton shouted, but it was no use.

Jesse raced forward, and entered the Boom Tube just as it closed, leaving Quinton alone. Sky was on the ground with a chunk of kryptonite lodged in his chest, and Ethan was out cold under the influence of a neurotoxin. Quinton looked into the rising suns, his hands shaking, and uttered the words, "Oh crap."


	21. Phantoms

**Well, after a long delay, my hiatus is over. And I can, with absolute certainty, promise that there will not be another hiatus on this particular story. That is because, I've been thinking about the direction of this fic, and I've decided that there will only be about 5 more chapters. Because after that, we'll be starting… Breaking Free Pt. 2! You'll understand the reason for the divide when we get there. And with what I have planned, I can promise that Part 2 will be the most incredibly epic thing I have ever written. So, I'll be going into overdrive to wrap up Part 1 now, starting with this chapter right here. Enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty-One: Phantoms

Fate drifted from her sea of unconsciousness slowly, her eyes fluttering in opposition to the light. The intervals between her blinks gradually grew longer and longer, and the nonsensical blur of colors before her started to clarify, forming concise shapes. Once she had gotten her head on straight, Fate looked around. She was trapped inside of some sort of force bubble, somewhere dark. That was all she could tell.

"Have a nice nap?" A familiar voice penetrated the air beside her. Fate jumped, having failed to notice Jesse sitting adjacent to her.

"Jesse? Oh, thank God! What the hell is going on?"

"You want the long version, or the short version?"

"Whichever works best for you."

"Ok then, I was just hanging out with Q minding my own business, when all of the sudden, I heard what sounded like noises of carnal engagement coming from the room shared between you and Ethan."

"Carnal engagement?"

"Do not interrupt my dramatic story buildup!"

"Sorry, go on."

"Naturally, I assumed that bastard Ethan was trying to rape you or something."

"How does this end with us trapped in a force bubble?"

"Shut up!" Jesse glowered, "Anyway, being the valiant, heroic, good-looking chap that I am, I raced over to assist you. And boy was I surprised when, out of nowhere, you transformed into some kind of crazy-ass demon beast and tried to rip my head off!"

"Oh," Fate dropped her gaze. "That."

"Yeah, _that_. You know, normally that's something that you would mention to a guy on a first date. 'Hey, I have four cats.' 'Hey, I'm allergic to tai food.' 'Hey, sometimes I transform into a bloodthirsty demon!'"

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, are you?"

"Yes, Jesse I am really, really sorry that I never told you," Tears threatened in Fate's eyes. "I just… I was afraid you wouldn't accept me, if you knew what I was."

"Fate, I can break the sound barrier in my sneakers. My best friend is a paranoid weirdo who thinks that 'social interaction' means staring at people for inappropriate amounts of time and getting really sweaty. I had a crush on an archery girl with a scream that could literally pop my head off. I take orders from a grumpy half-Amazon boy made of sperm from two different vigilante fathers. I hang out with a fish girl, a human energy reactor, and an ex-gladiator who looks like Zac Efron. I deal with some _weird _shit. Did you really think I would suddenly hate you just because you aren't perfect?"

"You think Troy looks like Zac Efron?"

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"That annoying subject-changey reality-dodge move you just pulled."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're _always _running away from reality, Fate. If you don't like something, you just shove it in the back of your mind with the rest of your secrets and try to pretend it doesn't exist. You couldn't control your powers, and that scared you, so you tried to hide it. You turned into a monster, and that terrified you, so you tried to hide it. Everything that you portray yourself as is based on a huge web of lies. Even your name is a lie!"

"Jesse-"

"Your name is Zatina Blood, which personally, I think is sexy. But through all your paranoid, self-doubting BS, you got in your head that your own name was somehow some sort of curse. So you decided to go by Fate."

Fate was quiet for a long time. She could see Jesse studying her, making sure she was alright. _He's worried about me, _she thought. _Even when he's furious, he's still worried about me._ "You're right Jesse. You're absolutely right. Everything I live by, everything I present myself as is all a big lie. I'm sorry." She looked up at him, finally allowing herself to cry. Instantly, all of Jesse's anger was gone. He leaned in and embraced her. He held her tight against his chest for a long time. "How can I fix it?" She whispered.

"You can start by letting me use your real name."

"By all means."

A low clapping emanated from the darkness outside of their bubble, followed by a sinister laugh. Grayven appeared, stepping into the dim light cast by the energy bubble. "Aw, how sweet," he taunted. "I think I just might cry."

"I'll hand you a tissue if you let me out of here," Jesse offered.

"Nice try shitsack," Grayven turned his attention to Fate. "You are quite an interesting specimen, little girl. In this… _human _form, you're so pathetic it makes me sick to my stomach." He spat out the word 'human' as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. "But when you transform… well, that's a whole different story."

"Cut to the chase Dr. Evil, what do you want?" Fate snapped.

"I want wants inside of you, my dear."

"Called it!" Jesse shouted, "I knew he was a pedophile!"

"Watch your tongue boy or I'll have to remove it from your mouth," Grayven snarled, and then returned his attention to Fate. "I want The Demon. That potent of magical energies, combined with my Apokoliptian technology, would make me unstoppable. Darkseid would grovel at my feet, and I would finally replace that tired old fool as the Lord of Darkness."

"Lord of Darkness? Could you get any more cliché? A handlebar mustache, perhaps? Oh, and try wringing your hands together when you perform you're evil laugh. Trust me, it's _chilling_." Jesse remarked.

"You remind me a lot of your father, boy." Grayven gave a toothy grin, "I hated your father."

"What a coincidence. I hate both you and your father!"

"The Demon is bound to my soul, genius. In order to remove it, you would have to physically remove my soul."

"My plans exactly," Grayven smiled again.

"Ok, Zatina, rule number one: don't ever give the bad guy suggestions that involve removing souls," Jesse frowned.

Grayven deactivated the force bubble, allowing Jesse and Zatina to fall onto the floor, into absolute darkness. _"Thgil eb ereht tel!" _Zatina shouted, and a burst of fire erupted from her hands, blasting Grayven in the face. Grayven let out a violent wail, blinded by the blast.

"Nice!" Jesse shouted.

"Actually, I was just trying to make a light," Zatina admitted.

"Rule number two: if something cool happens, never admit it was a mistake."

Guided by the bright light emanating from Zatina's hand, Jesse spotted what looked like a doorway at the end of the cavern. He picked Zatina up in his arms and sprinted for the door before Grayven had a chance to regain his vision. Within a microsecond Jesse was out the door, but almost immediately, he was lifted off the ground and began to lose momentum.

"What the…?" Jesse rose higher into the air, realizing that he had apparently stepped into a null-gravity zone of some kind. He looked around and saw a seemingly endless expanse of empty space, only occasionally dotted by what looked to be floating mountains. In the distance, blood-curdling screams could be heard. Inhuman, guttural howls that sent a shiver down Jesse's spine.

A low, gravely laugh erupted from behind them, coming from Grayven's partner; Gorilla Grodd. "Welcome to the Phantom Zone, punk. The one place in existence that's free from Apokoliptian surveillance, so Grayven and I are free to do as we please."

"I'm sure you've been enjoying each other very much. Just out of curiosity, how much does Vaseline cost these days?" Jesse smirked as he tried to orient himself to the lack of gravity, but failed hopelessly.

"Inertia!" Grodd barked. From seemingly nowhere, the evil clone of Bart Allen appeared, wearing what looked to be some sort of flight ring that helped him maneuver without gravity. In a blur, Inertia delivered a powerful punch to Jesse's nose. Had it not for the flight ring, the force of his own punch would have sent Inertia spiraling through the vast expanse of the Phantom Zone. Jesse was knocked back and began to drift, the blood from his nose pouring straight up as it ran.

Jesse tried desperately to find some sort of footing, some way to move in the direction that he wanted to go, but Inertia had a definite field advantage with the flight ring. Inertia blurred through the air, delivering blow after blow, knocking Jesse around like a bruised rag doll. Jesse couldn't even hope to react, whenever he tried to throw a counter strike, he would up just launching himself in the other direction.

Zatina watched as Jesse was swallowed up in a cloud of his own blood, while Inertia beat him mercilessly. "Jesse!" She screamed, and began to cast a spell when Grodd blasted her with an electric flare from his cybernetic arm. Grayven, his eyes now recovered from Fate's blast, used his telekinesis to pull Fate back toward him. He grabbed her by the hair. She wanted to cast a spell, but her nerves were still reeling from Grodd's shock, and she couldn't even move her mouth properly.

"Now let's begin the process, shall we?"

**Wooded Area – Same Time**

"Well this is bothersome," Quinton furrowed his brow. He, Ethan and Sky were in the midst of recovering from the battle with The Demon. "What am I going to tell Tommy? 'Hey, Fate turned into a monster, and so we all snuck out to catch her, and then we lost her and Jesse?'"

"I'm sure if we're just honest with him about what happened, Tommy will understand and not blame us." Sky offered.

Ethan and Quinton shared a moment of sudden eye contact, and then simultaneously burst out laughing. "You really are new around here," Ethan chuckled.

"What?" Sky frowned.

"Sky, to put it lightly, Tommy is, at any given time, filled with seething rage that he buries beneath a hard exterior. He doesn't understand things, he just yells at them."

"Then why do you guys listen to him?" Sky looked puzzled.

"Because he's a good leader," Ethan shrugged. "Most of Tommy's anger is aimed at himself. He puts a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, leading a team like this. And whenever something goes wrong, he views it as a personal failure, whether it was his fault or not. It's his greatest flaw as a person, but as a leader, its his greatest strength."

"As much as I love psychoanalyzing our friends, can we please sit down and decide what the hell we're going to do about this mess?" Quinton sighed.

"We need to tell Tommy what happened here tonight, sit everyone down, and figure out a plan together." Ethan reasoned. "It's the only thing that makes any sense."

"I know."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I just…" Q frowned. "I don't want to be useless anymore. I don't want to be the guy who screws and has to go running to Tommy for help. For once, I want to solve a problem on my own, without just being the guy in the background."

"Your day will come, Q. But right now, lives are at stake and we need to do what works best, regardless of what we want." Ethan spoke with a kindness that was very uncharacteristic of him, and threw Q off guard.

"You're right," Quinton looked to Sky. "You can get back to HQ faster than we can. I want you to go there and tell everyone what's happened. Ethan and I will arrive shortly."

"Got it," Sky nodded, and then leapt off into the night sky, back toward HQ.

Ethan began to walk off in the same direction, but Q planted his hand firmly on Ethan's shoulder. "Wait a minute," he said. "We're going to talk about something."

**HQ – Same Time**

"This isn't right. They should have been back by now," Flo stared off at the rising sun.

"Hey, you know those guys. Jesse and Q probably stopped to have a massive rock paper scissors tournament or something," Allie grinned, trying to cheer her friend up.

"They're probably taking their time getting back here because they know I'm going to kick each of their asses," Tommy scowled. "They should have told me before they went off like that. I need to know who on my team is with me."

"I could go try to find them if you want," Troy suggested. "I'm a pretty good tracker."

"No, stay here. We're already spread thin. If we fell under attack, we'd have no chance of fighting back with this small of a grouping."

"Excuse me, I seem to remember you, me, Quinton and Jesse escaping a parademon-filled Justice Cave a while back. We all lived," Allie smiled.

"There's a difference between escaping and winning."

"I'll quote you on that, Sunshine."

"Can you two stop talking please? The sexual tension in here is so thick you could cut it with a knife," Flo rolled her eyes. That shut both Tommy and Allie up, and the two of them began just shuffling around awkwardly.

There was snickering from the Cadmus children, Kio and Prome, in the far corner. Troy looked at them curiously. "What are you guys laughing at?"

"She said sex," Prome could barely contain his laughter.

Troy looked to Flo and said, "Do you think we were that annoying when we were ten?"

"When I was ten, I was fending for myself against Apokoliptian sea monsters."

"I was fighting alien gladiators in Warworld."

"We were such cool children."

Suddenly, Sky came careening into the HQ, a blank expression on his face. "So… we ran into a little problem."

**Phantom Zone – One Hour Later**

Jesse West heals a lot faster than normal people. It has to do with his accelerated body functions. The same acceleration also causes Jesse to have to eat more frequently, due to a super-fast metabolism. And after taking his beating from Inertia, he felt as though he could eat a cow or four.

He'd only survived the onslaught by decelerating his own heartbeat, giving off the appearance that he had been killed. Inertia took the bait, and left, allowing Jesse to find a nice, desolate floating rock to lie on and try to recover. The rock was surrounded by hordes of flying tentacle monsters, pretty much giant squids with bat wings and shark teeth, which swirled around and screeched. _Eh, I'm sure they're friendly_, Jesse thought.

He rolled over on his back, and listened to his stomach roar. There comes a point at which the noises your stomach makes can no longer be classified as a growl. It's a full on, primal beast roar. Jesse was well beyond that point. _Hey, at the very least maybe it'll scare off the little Cthulu's._

"Hungry much?" A feminine voice sounded, startling Jesse so much that he screamed. Immediately, the speedster looked to see a girl sitting cross-legged on the rock, just a few feet away from him. She was a Twilight fan's wet dream, decked out in all black, with ghostly pale skin and dark makeup. She was smiling, but her charcoal eyes had a perpetually mournful aura to them, complimenting her smooth black hair. If the spirit of death hit a piñata, this girl is the candy that would fall out.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Jesse groaned, not feeling up to his usual cocky charm. "And also, do you have any food?"

"I do have food. As to where I came from, that's a bit more complicated."

"Alright, let's skip that then." Jesse felt his stomach preparing to unleash another roar.

The girl handed Jesse an odd little oblong sphere, dark colored and a rough in texture. Jesse quickly popped it into his mouth and began to chew. It was the single most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. "Please tell me you have more of those!"

The girl laughed, and gave him a handful. He swallowed them all right away. "What are these?"

"See those creatures up there?" The girl pointed to the little Cthulu-spawn.

"Yeah."

"Those were their testicles."

Jesse immediately felt sick to his stomach. "Suddenly I'm wishing I hadn't enjoyed them."

The girl laughed. "There's not much for food around here. It's either bat-squid genitals or rocks. And believe me; the rocks around here are not impressive."

"I'll take your word for it." Jesse sat up, healing faster already. He eyed the girl. She had an odd transparency to her, as if Jesse could partially see through her body. She was there, but in the same way that an image from a projector manifests. Jesse got the sense that if he were to reach out, his hand would go right through her. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Aelita."

"Jesse," he turned toward her. "So, let me guess; you're a manifestation of my inner psyche. An image of my imagination."

"Not even close, actually."

"Good, because for a minute I was scared that my inner psyche was actually a Goth chick who eats squid nuts."

Jesse looked around. "Hey, do you have any idea where I might be able to find my friend around here?"

"Zatina?"

"How'd you know?"

"You were rambling about her in your sleep."

"You were watching me sleep?"

"There isn't much for entertainment around here, either."

"Well, any idea where she might me?"

"If she got taken by those two assholes that moved in a while back, then yeah, I know where they're keeping her. But you don't want to go there. It's suicide."

"No, you see, I really kind of do want to go there. If I don't, some really bad things are going to happen. Way worse than me dying."

"I like you."

"Does that mean you'll help me out?"

Aelita appeared to be contemplating a moment. But almost right away, she smiled. "What the hell. It's not like I have a whole lot to lose, right?"

Aelita stood up, and unleashed what sounded like a dog whistle. Immediately, one of the squid beasts descended down onto the rock, screeched back at Aelita, and lowered its wings. Aelita climbed onto its back, and motioned for Jesse to follow.

"Seriously?"

"Can you think of a better way to get around this place?"

"I guess not."

Jesse mounted the creature, wrapping his arms around Aelita's waist. "So you just like, have these things tamed?"

"Just this one. I call him Lovecraft."

"Clever. And fuel efficient, too."

"Yeah, but it sucks for parallel parking."

"You know what, Aelita? I think I like you too."

Jesse couldn't get a good judge of time for the life of him. Everything seemed to work differently in the Phantom Zone, and his perception of time was completely whacked out as a result.

He guessed that it had been somewhere between five minutes and three hours when they reached the fortress which Grodd and Grayven had hollowed out into the largest of the floating mountains. Aelita lowered Lovecraft down toward the entrance of one of the caverns leading into the fortress.

"This is as far as I go, sorry."

"Any advice?"

"Yeah, don't get killed."

"I'll remember that." Jesse stepped down to the entrance of the cavern. Lovecraft gave him a loud goodbye screech, and Jesse patted the creature's neck. "Best first date ever."

"You're not my type," Aelita replied.

"I was actually talking to the bat squid." Jesse smiled, "But just out of curiosity, why am I not your type?"

"Because you're not a girl."

"Whoa! Goth, a beast tamer, funny as hell, _and _a lesbian? Are you sure you aren't just a figment of my imagination?"

"Pretty sure," Aelita laughed. "Good luck Jesse."

Lovecraft then took off flying into the far reaches of the Phantom Zone, carrying Aelita with him. "I might have to make Zatina turn me into a chick," Jesse grinned. Then he pulled on his running goggles and stared down the dark cavern before him. "Here goes nothing."

Jesse took off as fast as he could run, sprinting through the darkness of the winding caverns. His eyes strained to see where one tunnel ended and another began. He listened carefully for sound, but found nothing aside from the monstrous worms tunneling through the walls around him.

After several minutes of running blind, Jesse was almost certain that he had covered every tunnel. He leaned against the wall of the cavern, and muttered to himself, "If I were about to perform a demonic soul transfer inside of a floating mountain, where would I hide?"

He leaned further against the wall, and was surprised when it gave way, slipping out in a rectangular slab. Jesse nearly fell backwards into the now open chasm. Once he regained his balance, he looked down and saw a faint glow emanating from the bottom of the hidden stairwell. "Clever, clever."

Just as Jesse was taking his first step down the stairwell, a powerful blur zipped up and struck him down. The blow dizzied Jesse's vision, but he knew immediately who it was; Inertia.

"I thought I killed you?" Inertia kicked out Jesse's leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. In the same fluid movement, Inertia moved to stomp on Jesse's head. "I'll make sure there's nothing left this time!"

Jesse rolled out of the way of Inertia's foot just as it was coming down, and shoved the rival speedster into the opposite wall. Jesse then sprinted back down the hallway, feigning a retreat. As expected, Inertia raced after him. Jesse had been squid-monster testicles on the floor his first time through all the tunnels, leaving them as markers so that he could figure out where he had already been.

Carefully following the trail of disembodied monster balls, Jesse began to see the exit to one of the tunnels off in the distance, leading back out into the expanse of the Phantom Zone. It was then that Jesse used a trick he had learned from his older brother Jai. Without warning, he dropped down onto his hands and knees. Inertia, completely caught off guard, ran right into Jesse and tripped himself.

Inertia flew into the stony ground with a painful grunt. Almost right away, both speedsters were back on their feet, engaging in a flurry of super-fast punches and kicks, matching each other blow for blow. Jesse felt his brain speeding up more and more to match the intensity of the fight, and he soon realized that he had now sped up to a point that he could easily move faster than Inertia. He'd noticed this happening before; if he isn't fast enough for something, his brain speeds up to compensate, and the rest of his body follows suit, kind of like a reactive increase in his power level, his speed evolving to meet the situation. For the first time, Jesse wondered what his limits were. _Just how fast can I move, if I'm pushed hard enough?_

Though his speed was almost twice that of Inertia's now, Inertia was still the better fighter. Jesse was sure to take a few small hits on purpose, keeping Inertia lulled into his sense of security. Once their high-speed dance took them close enough to the edge of the cavern, Jesse busted out all the stops.

He let loose and flashed away from each one of Inertia's blows. "Why – can't – I – touch you?" Inertia shrieked.

"I am so resisting the urge to say 'Can't touch this' right now," Jesse stopped for a moment, tricking Inertia into a lunge. Instantly, Jesse sidestepped, and plucked the flight ring off of Inertia's outstretched hand. Then, he tacked Inertia, summersaulted across the floor and kicked up with both legs, launching Inertia out of the cavern. Inertia was immediately sucked into the zero-gravity of the Phantom Zone, and began running frantically, trying in vain to get traction.

"Not so touch without this, huh?" Jesse laughed, tossing the flight ring in his palm. He watched as Inertia quickly drifted away, driven by the force of his own movement. _I hope Aelita finds you and feeds you to Lovecraft, asshole_. Jesse then turned and sprinted back to the stairwell.

He raced down into Grodd's laboratory, throwing subtlety out the window. Once he was in the hidden lab, he took an immediate mental analysis. Zatina was strapped to an operating table, with some sort of large, vacuum-like machine latched onto her chest, draining her life force. Jesse raced toward her. Grayven anticipated the move and swept in front of him, flinging out an arm. Jesse ducked beneath Grayven's swing and pressed the activate button on the flight ring, right before throwing it into Grayven's open mouth..

Grayven was immediately thrust into the air by the force of the ring, and his head was driven into the stone ceiling. Jesse knew it wouldn't slow him down for long. The speedster ran to the operating table. He used rapid vibration to heat up the molecules of Zatina's shackles, melting them away. He then pried the machine off of her and picked Zatina up in his arms.

"How did you get here?" She asked.

"I made a new friend."

"Insolent welt!" Grodd screamed from the machine's operation desk, and leapt at the speedster.

"_Edils kcor_," Zatina called out. Immediately, the area of stone above Grodd collapsed, and tumbled on top of the mad gorilla. _"Dnaskciuq," _She waved her hand, and the floor around the fallen Grodd turned to Quicksand, sucking the ape under.

"Ok," Jesse said, "Let's get out of here before-" There was a loud rumbling as Grayven broke loose from the ceiling, dropping down to face Jesse and Zatina. "Too late."

The two young heroes shared a moment of eye contact, and had a mutual thought. Jesse sprinted straight at Grayven. Grayven was prepared, and already set up to strike. _"Essej etacilpud," _Zatina cried out. Suddenly, six clones of Jesse appeared, running right along beside him. The multiple Jesse's quickly began to shuffle at super speed, causing Grayven to lose track of which was real. He swung, but struck a clone that quickly dissolved. In his confusion, Jesse was able to land a number of solid, high-velocity hits on Grayven, disorienting the villain.

"_Etatigruger_!" Zatina chanted, and the spell caused Grayven to spontaneously vomit. In the assortment of bile came the flight ring, which he had swallowed and Jesse threw it into his mouth. Jesse caught the flight ring, and delivered one last mighty blow to the disoriented Grayven, putting the villain in a daze. Jesse knew he'd recover quickly.

He grabbed Zatina, and sprinted for up the stairwell. He heard Grodd call out a self-destruct code, and sped up even more. As he turned at high speed through the winding tunnels, there was a massive explosion from near the core of the fortress, and the tunnels began to collapse.

Jesse swerved around chunks of falling debris, and catapulted out through the exit just as the entire mountain crumbled behind him. Jesse slipped on the flight ring, and stabilized himself in the zero gravity. He took Zatina's hand to keep her from drifting away. She embraced him in a tight hug.

They floated there for several minutes, holding each other, listening to nothing but their own heartbeats. "How are we supposed to get home?" He finally whispered.

"I don't know. I guess I could try a spell to open an inter dimensional portal, but… that's some high level magic. I'm certainly in no condition for it right now."

Zatina looked up to see a terrifying creature emerge behind Jesse. She let out a startled scream, and Jesse looked back to see Lovecraft floating behind him. "It's ok, he's cool," Jesse grinned.

"Thought you might want a ride out of this warzone," Aelita called from atop the creature.

"Jesse… is this your new friend?" Zatina asked.

"Yup."

"You weren't kidding earlier. You put up with some weird shit."

**Wooded Area**

"You want to _what_?" Ethan frowned, obviously objected to Q's plan.

"It probably won't even hurt. You'll have to ask Flo to be sure, but…"

"There is no way I'm letting your Little Mermaid girlfriend rummage around inside of my body."

"Flo is directly connected to the healing hand, she draws power from the Lady of the Lake."

"I don't have a clue what that means."

"It means that if there's anything threatening inside of your body, she'll find it, and chances are she'll be able to remove it. You just need to let her run an aura scan and-"

"Why would there be something threatening inside of me Q?"

"You know why."

Ethan stared at Q blankly for a moment. He was a head taller than Q, and much more muscular, but something in the look on Quinton's face made him intimidating. "Ethan," he continued, "You absorbed Darkseid's Omega Beams into your body. No one has ever done that before. We have no idea what kind of effects it could be having on your body, but you've been noticing changes; you haven't needed to eat or sleep or even breathe! It's like your body is being completely sustained on the energy you absorbed."

"I'm ok though, Q. I just need to wait for the last residual energy to filter out of my body, and I'll be back to normal."

"Ethan, those same Omega Beams once sent Batman back to the dawn of time. They're potent enough to kill Superman, and they teleported Doomsday to another planet. This is far from a normal energy. This isn't like electricity, that you can just absorb and cycle it through."

"Exactly why I don't want the others to know, Q!" Ethan snapped. "I don't want them worried about me. And I definitely don't want them losing trust in me."

"Last time I kept a secret for someone on this team, he turned out to be a traitor."

"I remember. He shot me in the back."

The two were quiet again. Finally, Ethan said, "I'll let Flo scan me. But no one else finds out."

"Ok. Good. Now let's get back to HQ, Sky is probably already there."

**Phantom Zone**

After landing on a far off floating island, Zatina had gone off to meditate, hoping to conjure enough magic for a spell that could take her and Jesse home. Jesse and Aelita stood leaned against Lovecraft's leathery side.

"So, just out of curiosity, is she your type?" Jesse nodded to Zatina.

Aelita laughed. "I think she's more your type, Jesse."

"Yeah. I know."

"But… she is really hot."

"I know that too," he smiled.

Aelita studied Jesse for a moment. "You really love her, don't you?"

"Yeah. I think so." He turned to meet Aelita's gaze. "So what's your story?"

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"How'd you get here, where'd you come from, etc."

Aelita sighed warily. "My name is Aelita Constantine. My dad was John Constantine."

"I don't know who that is."

"That figures. He wasn't exactly on the same level as you're dad, popularity wise."

"Alright, go on."

"Well, the Constantine name might not be famous on Earth, but in Hell, it's the equivalent of Hitler. The one name everyone knows and equally despises."

"Hell?"

"Yeah. Not Apokolips, either. The real Hell."

"Alright, just making sure."

"So to make a long story short, when some higher-ranking devils who my dad had pissed off found out about me, they went apeshit, and came after my soul. One of them got it. Wormwood was his name. He killed me."

"So how'd you get here?"

"My dad didn't want my soul going to Hell with Wormwood, so at the last minute, he cast a spell to send me to one of the few planes of existence that Hell can't reach."

"The Phantom Zone."

"Bingo."

"So… you're dead?"

"Ugh huh."

"Well that's creepy."

"I bet you're wishing I was a figment of your imagination _now_, huh?" Aelita smiled.

"Nope, that's way cooler. I've dealt with a lot of crazy things, but I've never met a ghost before."

Zatina came walking over, a disappointed look on her face. "There isn't a very strong magical aura in this place. There's no way I'll be able to conjure a portal back to Earth."

"Well that sucks," Jesse sighed. He looked back at Aelita. "Don't suppose you know a way out of here?"

"I've never looked," she shrugged.

"Seriously?"

"I kind of like it here. More than I like Earth, anyway. Sure it's boring, but at least you don't have to put up with all the Earth bullshit."

"Well," Jesse sighed, "Looks like we're stuck here then."

"Grayven and Grodd were using a Boom Tube to travel in and out of here. Maybe if we go back to what's left of their fortress, we can find the Mother Box they used?"

"It would have been destroyed in the explosion. Grodd would have made sure of that. Besides, I'm not too eager to go back there. I'm betting Grayven is still alive, and I probably won't beat him a second time."

Suddenly, an all-too-familiar scream filled the air. "West!" Inertia shrieked, summersaulting through the null-gravity toward them."

"Great. I already beat this twerp once today." Jesse activated the flight ring, and took off to intercept Inertia. He kicked the evil speedster off course, sending him spiraling into another rock. In a fit of rage, Inertia moved as fast as he could manage, so fast that soon even Jesse was having a hard time keeping track of him.

However, Jesse could already feel his brain speeding up to compensate, and his body followed suit. Pretty soon, he was thinking at least twice as fast as Inertia was moving, and he'd hardly even noticed the change. Now that he could comprehend the rival speedster's movements, Jesse flew toward him, creating a sonic boom as he did so.

Jesse pummeled Inertia with several high-velocity strikes. In a last ditch effort at victory, Inertia grabbed Jesse in a super-fast bear hug. He began to vibrate at hypersonic speed, apparently trying to liquefy Jesse's brain. Jesse responded by vibrating even faster. Soon the two were an incomprehensible blur of motion. Jesse's molecules began to go haywire due to the speed of his motion, and he phased directly through Inertia. But he didn't stop. He could feel the Speed Force bending around him, speeding up to his will.

Jesse's motion disturbed the molecules in the Phantom Zone so deeply that they began to tear. Jesse couldn't believe it, but his plan appeared to be working. His growing sphere of force was literally pushing molecules away from each other, opening up a rift.

Suddenly, Jesse's body ripped into a scarlet red portal! At least, that was how Zatina and Aelita saw it. From Jesse's eyes, he was suddenly in a different place. It took him a while to understand, but he soon realized that he was inside of the Speed Force, the energy which fuels his speed, and the speed of the all the Flash's before him.

From within the Speed Force, the laws of physics didn't apply. Jesse could willingly bend and contort space and time in the natural world, by willing the Speed Force to focus more or less on any specific area. Jesse could envision the HQ, the old Birds of Prey clock tower. Jesse willed the Speed Force to hyper-concentrate on that area, pushing apart molecules in a small space there, just as he had done in the Phantom Zone.

Soon, another scarlet gateway had ripped open. Jesse didn't know if Zatina could hear him or not, but he had to try. "Come on!" He screamed.

Back within the Phantom Zone, Zatina was awestruck, seeing how Jesse's body had suddenly flashed into this tear in the fabric of the Zone. For a moment she worried that he might be dead, but then his voice reached her ears; _Come on!_

_"Etativel," _Zatina chanted, causing her to levitate. She began to float toward the portal. _I should be scared of this, _she thought. _But I trust Jesse too much._

Inertia had apparently recovered from Jesse's onslaught, because he tried to attack Zatina. Immediately, Lovecraft entrapped Inertia in his tentacles, and began pulling the villainous speedster into his mouth.

"You sure you want to stay?" Zatina called.

"Yeah," Aelita smiled. "I think I left the oven on, so I shouldn't go far you know."

"Maybe we'll come back and visit you sometime," Zatina offered.

"I'll be looking forward to that."

_"Um, hurry up!" _Jesse's voice called out.

Zatina waved goodbye, and entered into Jesse's portal just as Lovecraft began to munch on an evil speedster clone.

Zatina didn't see the Speed Force. Her mind didn't work fast enough to comprehend that. One minute, she was stepping into the portal in the Phantom Zone, and the next she knew, she was stepping out of a second portal, into the teams HQ back on Earth.

She came tumbling into the room just as Tommy, Troy, Allie, Flo, Quinton, Sky and Jesse were preparing to launch a search party. Once she was safely in the room, the rapidly vibrating scarlet portal behind her began to slow down.

Soon, Jesse materialized in the room. He fell to the floor, clearly exhausted. "You guys would not believe the day we just had," He panted.

"We were just about to go looking for you two," Tommy said.

"You wouldn't have found us. Trust me," Zatina smiled.

"Anyway, we found you, so it's all good." Jesse wobbled onto his feet, still dizzy.

"Jesse…" Quinton gawked, "Did… did you just create an interdimensional portal?"

"Yup."

"How?"

"I'm awesome, that's how." And with that, Jesse collapsed onto the floor and began snoring.

"What in the world happened to you two?" Tommy asked.

"You might want to sit down for this one," Zatina said. "It's kind of a long story."


	22. Fallen Angel

**Hello everyone. Before you read this awesome chapter, I want to give you a little heads up about something; some of you may not remember, but a few chapters ago, there was a scene where Corey, Connor, Chris and Mckayla went to confront Alex Luthor and ask for his help. I meant to continue that scene in the following chapter, but completely forgot. So, toward the end of this chapter, you'll see that scene again, and it continues forward from that point.**

**And now… you may proceed! Enjoy ;)**

Chapter Twenty-Two: Fallen Angel

**-Apokolips-**

Kavita Stewart was a warrior. This was a solid, irrefutable fact which she reaffirmed with each blow to her opponent. She had proven especially vicious in the arena today, and with each fist she brought down onto the enemy, the more her inner rage festered. Her mother was a Thanagarian, born to the lineage of the greatest warriors in the universe. And her father was a Green Lantern, chosen because his miraculous strength, courage and willpower. Before that, he had served in the Marine Corps. Yes, Kavita had been born into a line of warriors; breed for battle, imbued with a deep-rooted sense of honor, valor and strength that rivaled any other. So why did she feel like such a coward?

Kavita let her guard down for a moment, and her opponent got a swing in. A good swing. Blood burst from Kavita's lip under the weight of the impact. The words of Connor Queen kept ringing in her ear, over and over; "_You're afraid to do what you know is right. You're content to just sit around and be Granny Goodness's favorite little helper. You're pathetic."_ Kavita grit her teeth, and felt the fury inside of her boil to its break point. "I am not a coward!" She shrieked, driving her fist hard into the opponent's face. The moment the blow made contact, her enemy's eye burst open like a blood-filled balloon.

The opponent let out a cry of agony, but Kavita was not finished. She flung another blow. And another. And another still. She continued to pummel the opponent she was facing, mercilessly, relentlessly. Under Kavita's, the opponent was reduced to a bloody lump of broken bone and battered meat, barely recognizable as a human being. Kavita stopped, and stared a moment at the blood which had splattered over her entire body. She looked at the dead girl; the girl she had just mutilated in a fit of blind rage. And she felt sick to her stomach. _This isn't me_, she thought. _This isn't me. Why am I doing this? This isn't me. This isn't me._

Granny Goodness soon appeared, a look of delight adorning her withered face. "Very impressive my dear," Granny announced. Kavita did not respond. Granny looked over the dead body of the girl. "Food for the hounds. They'll appreciate that." Again, Kavita did not respond. She simply stared at the ground, praying to God that Granny wouldn't notice the tears in her eyes. The last time Kavita cried, she'd been whipped and locked in isolation for a week. Granny did not tolerate weakness.

Granny placed her hand on Kavita's shoulder. "You are becoming quite the impressive fighter, my dear. You could contend with most of my Furies, I'm quite sure of it. If we keep putting you against these potential recruits, none of them are going to pass!"

"This isn't me…" Kavita muttered.

"What was that dear?"

"Nothing Granny…"

"No, come on dearest don't keep secrets. You know you can tell Granny anything," her voice remained soft and soothing, but the tightness in her grip was threatening, and the look in her eyes said, _tell me or I will rip your arm from its socket._

"I… I don't know why I kept hitting her…" Kavita stammered, "I didn't need to keep hitting her."

"That's the 'fury' in Female Fury, my darling," Granny smiled.

"I don't want it."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I don't want this. I don't will to kill people anymore."

"Kavita, darling…" suddenly, Granny backhanded Kavita across the face. She looked so old and frail; it was easy to forget that Granny Goodness possessed colossal strength. Kavita fell to the ground with a sharp pain radiating through her skull. "When did I start giving a fuck about what you want? You'll kill _what_ I tell you to, _when_ I tell you to. Is that clear?"

Kavita was relatively confident that she could take Granny in a fair fight. But she knew it wouldn't be a fair fight. Nothing Granny did was fair. She would summon the Furies, and unleash them all on Kavita with intent to kill. Kavita buried her anger, deciding that in order to win the war, she had to sacrifice this battle. "Yes Granny."

"Good," Granny's voice was suddenly sweet as honey again. "Now go wash up darling, you like pitiful."

Kavita got to her feet and walked back to her room without ever giving Granny a second glance. Compared to most of Apokolips' denizens, Kavita lived luxuriously. She had her own bed, her own table, and her own bathroom. Of course, any waste from the bathroom was simply dumped into the city streets for the peasants to wallow in, but she preferred not to think about that. She stripped off her armor. The average daily temperature on Apokolips was around two-hundred degrees, due to the whole "burning planet" thing. People had adapted to survive the conditions, but regardless, a cold shower at the end of the day felt like the equivalent to eating ice cream in Heaven.

Kavita closed her eyes, allowing the running water to wash the blood off of her naked body. She placed her forehead against the wall, and let out a deep sigh. _I don't know what to do_, she thought. _Damn you Connor. Damn you for coming here. Damn you for calling me a coward… and damn you for being right._

After the mandatory limit of ten minutes, the water shut off automatically, leaving Kavita wholly unfulfilled. Not bothering to dress herself, Kavita sprawled out on her mattress, and found the small tear in the fabric in which she hid her most valued possession; a photograph of her brother, Rex. Rex Stewart had decided to follow in his parent's footsteps and be a hero… and he was killed by Darkseid during the invasion. Kavita could remember rushing to him, in the middle of the battlefield. Rex's entire midriff had been ripped open. His intestines were sprawled all over the ground in a tangled mess, and both of his lungs were punctured. Kavita was only five when it happened, but she remembered crying over her brother's mutilated form, begging him to come back to life, pleading with all her heart. And that was when she learned that wishes were futile.

She had just lost her parents earlier that week. And now Rex was dying, and no matter how much she cried, how loud she screamed, how strongly she wished, nothing would change that. That was the day that Kavita decided heroics were overrated. Rex had given her a bullet made from Radion, the one substance capable of killing Darkseid, on his death bed. Of course he had intended for her to use it. And as he died, she promised that she would. Even then, she knew it was a lie. Because she had already decided that she would never follow in Rex's footsteps. She would never fight a battle she was destined to lose. Fighting Apokolips was a death sentence; she had witnessed that first hand. Instead, she would side with them and live as long, and as well, as she could.

When Connor Queen was held captive, she'd given the bullet to him in hopes that he would have the courage to do what she didn't. But hope was futile. When you hope, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. Kavita knew this; she'd known it ever since she saw Rex ripped apart. So why did she keep on hoping?

Tears dripped onto Rex's photograph. Personal possessions were not allowed, that was Granny's rule. Kavita had always kept the photo hidden; her one and only act of defiance against Apokolips. Her only sign of courage, a withered photo held gently in her hands. "I'm sorry Rex. I'm so sorry."

Suddenly, there was a loud and urgent knock on the door. Kavita barely had time to stuff the photo back into its hiding place before the door burst open. In stepped Granny Goodness, followed by none other than Kalibak. "What is it?" Kavita asked innocently, and when she noticed Kalibak staring at her, she began to move for a robe to cover herself.

"Like you don't know, you little whore…" Granny growled. _Not a good sign._

"What is this about Granny?"

"The human called Connor Queen escaped our custody somehow," Kalibak snorted. "And then, he arrives on Earth with a Radion bullet, just as Darkseid is about to kill Tommy Knight and his Junior Justice League. Any thoughts on how that happened?"

Kavita eyed her sword, but was careful not to make her intentions obvious. It was on the other side of the room. Kalibak was big, but he wasn't slow. She would have to make a mad dash for the weapon. _Get him talking, distract him_. "No sir."

"_Really_," Granny Goodness slithered forward, obstructing Kavita's path to her sword. _Damn it_. Granny continued speaking, "You say you don't know how Mr. Queen escaped with _your _Mother Box?"

"I don't-"

"Save it. We traced the residual energy from the Boom Tube that Connor escaped through. It was generated by your Mother Box. You gave him that bullet and a means of escape, in hopes that he would slay Lord Darkseid. Is that correct?"

"I..." Kavita paused.

"Tell Granny the truth, dear."

"I… um…"

"Damn it, answer the question you dumb little bitch!"

"You want the truth, Granny?" Kavita hurled a fist directly into Granny's meaty cheek. "The truth is, I am sick and tired of your passive-aggressive matriarch bullshit!" Under the weight of Kavita's blow, Granny Goodness fell to the floor. Kalibak immediately sprang into action, surprising Kavita with his speed. Kalibak locked his hand around Kavita's arm and thrust her violently into the wall. "Mercy!" Kavita screamed.

"No mercy, wretch!" Kalibak barked. Then, from behind, a massive beast leapt onto Kalibak's back and sank its teeth into his neck. Blood sprayed from the wounds in Kalibak's flesh, and he darted backward in surprise. Kavita did not hesitate to plant a firm kick in his stomach, sending him flying backward. Kalibak crashed into the bedframe, splintering it into a million tiny toothpicks. The beast that had bitten him leapt down next to Kavita, snarling wildly. "This is Mercy," Kavita smiled, petting the Hellhound affectionately. Mercy belonged to Granny Goodness, but it had always had a fondness for Kavita. Especially considering Granny's abusive nature. Kavita had found solace in the hound several times, and shared a bond with the creature. Now, it had come to her rescue.

While Kalibak collected himself, Kavita sprang for her sword. Granny Goodness made a grab for the weapon, but Mercy raced in and, without hesitation, bit Granny's hand off. Blood spewed across the hard stone floor, and Granny began to shriek in agony. "You stupid treacherous mutt!"

"Good girl," Kavita called to Mercy as she picked up her sword. Kalibak was directly behind her now, and he had his favorite weapon drawn; the Beta Club. Kavita had no time to turn dodge the attack. She instead closed her wings around her back, forming a protective dome. Kavita possessed a genetic mutation that was rare among Thanagarians; her bodily naturally produced nth metal. All Thanagarians crafted their weapons from nth metal, but Kavita was born with the alloy already inside of her, coating her bones… and her wings. This made them nearly indestructible, and as a result, Kalibak's club simply glanced off of her armored wings.

The resulting jolt threw Kalibak's arms upwards. Kavita wasted no time. She spun around, and plunged her sword into his abdomen. There was a sickening crunch as the nth metal blade easily crushed Kalibak's lower ribs, and tore further into his body. Kalibak let out a wail, but did not slow down like Kavita expected. His fist fired into her head, sending a wave of pain roaring through every fiber of her being. While Kavita was disoriented by the blow, Kalibak ripped her sword out of his abdomen, ignoring the fountain of blood that began to spray.

Mercy leapt in to protect Kavita, but this time Kalibak was prepared. He struck the hound with his Beta Club, directly in the skull, and Mercy utter a high pitched yelp. Kavita regained her ability to see straight just in time to take a blow directly to the face from the Beta Club. Kavita sailed into the wall behind her with such force that it shattered, and she went falling down into the arena below. Just before she hit the ground, Kavita began to flap her wings, and descended with grace. Mercy leapt down after her, with Kalibak chasing close behind. _No running_, Kavita thought. She morphed her sword into a javelin, and hurled the weapon into Kalibak's shoulder. More blood.

While Kalibak was reeling from the attack, Kavita flung herself towards him and delivered several solid punches to his jaw. Kalibak was ridiculously durable, however, and withstood each blow with only minimal damage. Kalibak ripped the javelin out of his shoulder and prepared to strike Kavita with it. Using her telepathic link to the weapon, Kavita morphed the javelin into a spiked mace. The spikes tore into Kalibak's hand, and in a mixture of surprise and pain, he dropped the weapon. Kavita caught it by the handle and brought up into Kalibak's jaw with one violent swing. Kalibak was rocketed into the air by this blow, and crashed down into the dirt with a thundering crash.

To Kavita's surprise, however, Kalibak got to his feet, wiped the blood from his mouth and began to laugh. "Granny said you were good, Little Birdie. I haven't had a challenge this good since I killed your mommy."

Kavita grit her teeth, feeling her rage simmer beneath her skin. _Hold it together Kavita, _she thought to herself. _He's just trying to throw you off your game._ Kalibak cracked his knuckles, then his neck, and prepared to continue the fight. However, a light began to blink on his gauntlet, following by a loud beeping. Kalibak pressed a button on the gauntlet, and the voice of Desaad, Darkseid's right hand man, sounded through. "Is the Thanagarian girl dead yet?"

"Not yet, Desaad."

"What's the holdup then, you blundering idiot? You still have a mission on Earth!"

Kalibak frowned, apparently upset over having to abandon his challenge. "Very well. I'll end this quickly."

"It should have been over forty-five minutes ago. Darkseid does not tolerate inefficiency, Kali-" Kalibak cut off the signal before Desaad could finish.

"Looks like our fight is over, Little Birdie. I have to cut it short and kill you now." Kalibak raised his Beta Club, and prepared to fire the infamous blast from it. The blast which triggers the pain receptors in one's brain, and puts them on overdrive, delivering a pain beyond imagination. Kavita morphed her weapon into a shield just as Kalibak fired.

The shield was of no use. The Beta Club's blast channeled itself directly through, and ripped into Kavita's nervous system. Suddenly, an unbearable, excruciating pain washed over her, beyond anything she could ever have imagined. Kalibak liked to watch his victims die of shock from the pain, but he really was in a hurry. He fired a second blast, this one more destructive. The wave of energy tore Kavita's clothing to shreds, and struck her with the raw force of an exploding star. When the smoke cleared, Kavita was lying in a smoldering crater… lifeless.

"What shall I do with the body?" Growled Kalibak impatiently.

Granny Goodness hovered down next to him on a hover-platform, clutching the bloodied stump that was once her hand. "Open a Boom Tube and send her to Earth… as a message to the young heroes who still oppose us."

**-Earth-**

"I'm so hungry I'd eat the ass of a dead skunk," Jesse said through a full mouth as he mowed through the team's food stock. "Like, I'm always hungry when I use my powers because my super speed burns off calories super-fast. And after I did that crazy Speed Force Portal trick… I have never been this hungry in my life!"

"I can tell," Quinton said, somewhat disgusted as he watched his friend take a bite out of a brick of uncooked Raman noodles. "Just don't eat any raw meat, ok?"

"No promises."

"Well if it means anything, you are definitely King of the Pantry now."

"Duh. I raced into the Phantom Zone, defeated Inertia, Gorilla Grodd _and _Grayven, saved my girl, and then opened a freakin' trans-dimensional portal to get us back… all with nothing but my good lucks and incredible badassery."

"I'm glad to see you're taking the modest approach."

"Bro, I am the prime example of humility. Seriously, if you're looking for someone humble, I'm the perfect specimen."

"Uh-huh."

Jesse sat down against the wall with a box of stale pop tarts, and looked up at his friend. "Plus, I met this badass chick in the Phantom Zone. Her name was Aelita Constantine, and she's a ghost, apparently. She was like, Goth sheik with a flare of punk, and she was almost as funny and charming as me."

"What's your point? Are you crushing on a dead chick now?"

"No man, she's a lesbian. Chasing her would be like trying to make pizza out of an apple; it's just not gonna' happen."

"That is the weirdest simile I have ever heard."

"Besides, Zatina is the only girl for me."

"Who?"

"Fate. I call her Zatina now, because that's her real name and I don't want her to hide from who she really is anymore. While the bad guys had us trapped in this bubble prison, we worked out all our issues."

"Well I'm happy for you Jesse. All it took was a near-death experience and a floating prison bubble to make you stop being a dick to your girlfriend."

"How was I a dick to her? She's the one who flipped out over nothing at all!"

"You kissed Allie. Is that nothing?"

"Ok… so maybe that was a fantastic display of dickery. But my point is, we're past all that now, and things are looking great."

"Did you just say 'dickery'?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I… I think that's my new favorite word."

"So what about you a Flo? How are things between the nerd and the fish girl?"

"Fine."

"Just _fine_?"

"Yeah… fine."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"Do you seriously want us to start talking about our feelings with each other, Jesse? How about I just cut off my penis and buy a bra while we're at it?"

"I'm just saying, man…"

"I prefer to keep my feelings where they belong. Bottled up deep inside of me."

"Just give me a hint. Why are things just 'fine'?"

"_Huh_…" Q sighed, "Something's up with her. She's been avoiding me."

"Well I can't blame her. You're kind of creepy."

"Jesse!"

"Sorry. Go on."

"Things were great, and then we had that night at Corey's base, and all the sudden she won't talk to me anymore."

"Wait… what night at Corey's base?"

"It was the last night we were there, right before we headed here. You and Sky were out having your race, and the others were talking strategy with Corey, and Flo and I… well, we got carried away."

"Q, are you telling me that you got laid, and you _didn't _tell me?"

"I didn't realize I was supposed to."

"We're bros, Q! We're supposed to tell each other when stuff like that happens!"

"Well… yeah. I 'got laid'."

"Well now we know why she's been avoiding you."

"What makes you say that?"

"You must have really sucked at it."

"I'm going to kick your ass Jesse."

"I'm just saying, it seems like the logical conclusion to draw from this…"

"I'm not kidding. My foot is going to go straight up your ass."

"Is that what you did to Flo? Because chicks aren't usually into that."

"Ok, you're dead." Q sprang up and tackled Jesse before he could run away.

"Hey! You dare attack the King of the Pantry?" Jesse shouted.

"The King is displaying remarkable amounts of dickery, so yes."

"Stealing my words now? That's low, Q. That's really low. Kind of like your libido, which is why Flo stopped talking to you."

"Damn it Jesse!"

**-Ethan's Room-**

Ethan stripped down to his boxers, just as Flo instructed. He had agreed to allow her to scan his body for impurities and see if any residual energy from the Omega Beams was still inside of him.

"Are you sure this isn't gonna' hurt?" Ethan frowned.

"Yeah," Flo replied, "Well, mostly."

"Mostly?"

"There's a smallishchance it could hurt…"

"Smallish? How _smallish _are we talking?"

"Ok, to be honest I've never actually done this before, so I have no idea."

"Wonderful. I get to be your first guinea pig," Ethan sighed. "Where do you want me to sit?"

"Just… lay down on the floor here."

"Ah, very professional." Ethan laid down flat on the hard wood floor, and watched as Flo knelt down next to him. "You do _know _how to do this right?"

"Yeah… kind of."

"I'm getting less and less comfortable with this whole thing."

"Just quit whining and let's get it over with, ok?"

"Spoken like a true medical professional."

"I'm sorry we don't have MRI's and cat scans here in our crappy little rat-infested hideout, Ethan."

"I know," Ethan sighed again. "I just…"

"Have trouble trusting people?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Well… trust me, Ethan. You're going to be just fine. Unless you're not…"

"You're being funny, right?"

"More or less," Flo grinned. She withdrew a water canteen, and began to lather water over Ethan's chest and legs, gently but thoroughly.

"What's in that water?"

"Um… H20?"

"That's it? You don't need any, like, magic potions or anything?"

"Atlantean sorcery doesn't work that way. We draw magic directly from nature, and the elements around us. All I need for this is pure water."

"Didn't Atlantis fall to Apokolips when you were still a baby? How do you know all this?"

"That is a really, really weird story."

"Tell it to me. It might help keep my mind off the fact that you're about to look inside of me."

"Ok, well…" Flo's hand began to glow as she drew energy from the water, and she touched her hand lightly to Ethan's chest. "As you know, Atlanteans can telepathically communicate with sea life."

"Ugh-huh. You talk to fish."

"We don't really _talk _to fish… they don't have much to talk about. Our Aquatic telepathy works by redirecting the electrical impulses in the fish's brain, and modifying their instinct to meet our desires."

"Ok, makes sense."

"Well, anyway… have you ever heard of Garth?"

"The first Aqualad, right?"

"Yeah. Well, Aquaman, my dad, was one of the first to be killed when Apokolips invaded. In fact, that was part of their strategy. They killed Aqualad, but created a clone of him which they sent to impersonate him. And the clone had Atlantis declare war on Themyscira. The Apokoliptians had also killed Hippolyta, the Amazon queen. Artemis replaced her, and since Artemis was a bit more… well, savage, than Hippolyta, she had Themyscira respond to Atlantis' declaration of war with a full on attack. So, Apokolips arranged for a war to be started between Atlantis and Themyscira to distract the Justice League, while Apokolips began killing off lesser-known heroes in silence, and replacing them with clones."

"Interesting. Go on."

"Well, soon Mera, my mom, realized that the guy declaring war on Themyscira was _not _her husband. And Garth, who by that point had abandoned the Aqualad name and was going by Tempest, battled him for the throne. He won, and became the new king of Atlantis."

The blue aura around Flo's hand was spreading over Ethan's body now, scanning him for impurities.

"Ok… so Garth became Atlantis's new king. What happened after that?" Ethan inquired.

"Well, to make a long story short, Garth allied what was left of Atlantis with the Justice League, and took on Apokolips. But by that point, the majority of Earth's heroes had already been killed. And Apokolips won. Garth was killed by a horde of Parademons, or so it seemed… in fact, his body was destroyed, but his mind survived… in a school of fish."

"What?"

"Yeah. Just before he died, Garth transferred all of his conscious mind into a school of fish that happened to be swimming by. All of those fish shared Garth's mind, and he had them swim out and retrieve me as Atlantis was crumbling, pulling me out of the blast. I was just a baby then. Garth and I were the only surviving Atlanteans, and… well, his mind was divided among a bunch of flounder. So, he took care of me deep in a sea cave, for several years. He kept me fed, and once I was old enough, he began teaching me about Atlantean magic."

"You learned water sorcery… from a school of telepathic fish who shared one collective mind?"

"Yup."

"That is _super _weird."

"I warned you," Flo grinned.

The scan was nearing completion now. The blue aura allowed a window into Ethan's body, and allowed Flo to see what stirred within him. What she saw made her skin go pale. "Ethan…" she muttered.

"What? Is something wrong?" Ethan craned his neck upwards to examine his torso. Inside of himself, he what looked like a flowing network of… Omega Beams. The familiar magenta energy circulated through Ethan's veins, flowing through his body and never burning out. "What does that mean?" He asked.

"It means…" Flo paused, "It means that you've become a vessel for the Omega Effect."

"What's the Omega Effect?"

"Its… it's the source that Darkseid draws his power from." Flo looked him in the eyes and said, "It's changed your physiology Ethan. You're not human anymore… you're…"

"I'm what?"

"You're a New God. Just like Darkseid."

**-Tommy's Quarters-**

"I'm curious as to what they are," Tommy said, eying Kio and Prome. The two children who they had accidentally unfrozen at the same lab where they found Sky.

"They were frozen at Cadmus for a reason," Troy agreed. "Cadmus specialized in metahuman genetics. I'm willing to bet money those children were built in a lab."

"But Cadmus never did anything without a specific purpose, either. So… what was their purpose?" He watched Kio and Prome play together off in the distance.

"They're named after Greek deities. Prometheus, the titan who brought fire to mankind. And Khione, the goddess of ice and snow," Troy pointed out. "What do you think that means?"

"Cadmus was big into Greek references. Even their name comes from Greek history; Cadmus was the name of a Phoenician sea trader who introduced the phonetic alphabet. Plus, they created the clone Galatea, named after the statue by Greek artist Pygmalion. Greek references are nothing new with Cadmus," Tommy reasoned.

"How do you know all that history, Tommy?" Troy raised an eyebrow.

"I read a book or two while I was cooped up in a cave for sixteen years."

"Point taken."

"Are you two about done brooding together?" Allie chided. She placed an arm on each of their shoulders.

"We're just trying to figure out what Kio and Prome are, and why Cadmus created them," Tommy responded.

"Well you aren't going to figure it out by sitting around discussion history," Allie reasoned.

"Ok, you've got a point there," Troy grinned.

"Of course I do. I am always right about everything, and you should always take my word as absolute fact on any given subject," Allie smiled.

"Troy," Tommy glanced over at his brother. "Could you leave Allie and I alone for a minute."

"That depends. Are you two _finally _going to make out?" Troy smiled.

"I just need to talk to her about something."

"Alright," Troy sighed. "I'm due for a walk in the woods anyway."

Once Troy had left the room, Tommy looked to Allie and sighed.

"What's up Sunshine?" She asked.

"There's still a traitor on this team, Allie."

"That hasn't been verified. It's possible that Grayven was just bluffing to throw us off our game."

"Then how is it that Darkseid knew where to find us? Or that he seems to know our every move?"

"I don't know, Tommy. Maybe there is a traitor. But… do you really think anyone here…"

"I don't know what to think. All I know is that you're the only person who I can trust indefinitely. You are the one person who I can be one-hundred-percent sure is not the traitor."

"Really? Even after I was in The Hole? You don't think Granny Goodness brainwashed me or anything?"

"No," Tommy took a step toward her. "I trust you. Which is why I wanted to talk to you alone. So we can brainstorm and figure out who the traitor might be, before we start this Atlantis mission."

"When are we going?"

"There's a reason I haven't revealed that to the team yet. I don't want the spy, whoever they are, to know when we're going. That way, Apokolips can't prepare for us to be there."

"Its soon, isn't it?"

"Yes. Very, very soon. Which is why we need to weed out this traitor right now. And I'm asking you because… you're more of a people person than I am."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Allie smiled. She leaned back with her hands against the edge of Tommy's desk, and brushed a strand of platinum blond hair out of her shimmering green eyes. For a moment, Tommy began to smile at her beauty. But he quickly caught himself, and remained stoic.

"You're good at connecting with people, and I'm not. So… you'll probably be better at figuring this out than I am."

"What exactly are you getting at Tommy?"

"Who do you think is the traitor?"

Allie bit her lip for a moment. "You won't like it," she said in a voice so low it was practically a whisper.

"Tell me," Tommy said with utmost sincerity. "Tell me who you think it is. I can take it."

"Well… I was thinking, there's tension between all of us, right? So, I think the traitor would be the one guy who isn't a source of tension. The guy who just kind of blends in and remains neutral. I think it's…"

Before Allie could finish her sentence, there was a loud thud to the left, and Tommy looked to see Sky sitting in the windowsill, a look of urgency on his face. "Tommy… a Boom Tube just opened outside."

"Ah _shit_," Tommy breathed, gripping his knife for battle.

"No… you won't need that," Sky said.

"Why?" Tommy raised an eyebrow, "What came through the Boom Tube?"

"I… well…"

"Spit it out, Sky. What is it?"

"I think it's an angel."

**Ruins of Gotham – West End – Same Time**

Corey Jones phased through the wall of the old brick building that had once been a jail. He looked around the halls carefully for signs of trouble, before finally becoming visible again. "All clear," He said into his radio.

Connor Queen, Chris Magnus and Mckayla Sanders slipped in silently through the window. The four people regrouped at Corey's position. "Why would Alex be here?" Chris asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Corey shook his head. "But every lead we've gotten points to this place."

"I think it's a waste of time even looking for Alex," Connor spat. "The son of a bitch betrayed us. Twice."

"Like it or not, Tommy's plan is a damn good one. But we need Alex Luthor to pull it off," Corey crossed his arms. "Those thugs I interrogated said they saw a man in a black jacket, wearing a blank-slate mask, come into this building. It definitely matches the description, but I've done a telepathic scan for thoughts in the area… there's nothing to be found."

"Well, Alex always was good at blocking you out," Mckayla reasoned.

"I know, but he had to be prepared first. He _shouldn't _know we're looking for him."

"Think about this one; when we _do _find him, how do we convince him to actually help us?"

"Alex hates Apokolips as much as we do. If he sees an opportunity to strike them, he's going to take it," Chris said.

"I think we're on a wild goose chase Corey," Mckayla looked around. "A ruined county jail? Not exactly the kind of place Alex would hang out."

"Coming from an expert, right?" Connor shot her a glare. "After all, you know _everything _about Alex. I'm surprised you haven't already led us to him!"

"My relationship with him ended a long time ago," Mckayla glared back. "Way before he ever betrayed us."

"If you say so."

"Just what are you implying, Queen?"

"Well, we know that there is a traitor among the group, a spy for Apokolips… and I seem to remember that you knew Alex was the son of Lex Luthor, but yet you didn't tell any of us. You didn't tell us because you didn't want to get your little boyfriend in any trouble." Connor took a step toward her. "Maybe you two really were meant for each other."

"Are you calling me a traitor?" Mckayla's expression became angry.

"At this point, all I'm calling you is a liar. Don't do anything to make me think worse of you." Connor stared at her a few seconds more, and then backed off. "Let's get out of here. We're wasting time."

Suddenly, Chris's new robotic arm flung forward and grabbed Connor by the neck. Chris lifted Connor into the air and began to choke him. "Chris! What the hell are you doing?" Corey shouted.

"It's not me!" Chris shouted back, a look of terror on his face. "Something's controlling my arm!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came on over the intercom. The voice of Alexander Luthor. "It's called magnetism, Chris. I thought you were the science whiz, shouldn't you know this?" Alex's voice taunted.

"Put Connor down you bastard!" Corey screamed.

"I will, after I know you'll leave," Alex's voice replied from the speakers. A camera jutted out from the wall, and the lens focused in on Mckayla. "Hey babe, looking hot as ever I see."

"Go to Hell Alex," Mckayla gritted her teeth.

Connor's face was turning blue now; he was struggling frantically to get air into his lungs, trying to break free of Chris's grasp. Chris himself tried to fight it, but found that he had no control whatsoever.

"Here's the deal," Alex began, "You're all going to leave this building within the next ten seconds, and walk away. If you don't, I'll force Chris to crush blondie's throat. Got it?"

"Show yourself Luthor!" Corey roared.

"So you can strike me with one of your psychic blasts, and throw off my concentration long enough for Connor to get to safety? And then you can all spout some witty lines of dialogue, and take me down with your wonderful teamwork? I'd rather not."

"Alex, we want to make a deal!" Mckayla called out. "Tommy has a plan, and-"

"Tommy's always making plans. But you know what I noticed? They never actually work," Alex interrupted. "Hey, there's something else he has in common with you, Corey! You know, along with being so gullible that it borders on stupidity."

"You think you're pretty tough while you're talking through a speaker. Let's see you back it up face to face!" Corey taunted.

"Trying to coax me into a fight won't work, Corey. I know I can't beat you in a fight. Magnetism won't affect you if you're intangible, blah-blah-blah. Which is why I'm not actually going to fight you… I'm just going to kill all your friends from far away, until you get the message and leave me alone."

"Will you at least hear what we have to say?" Mckayla called.

"I've tried that before. You all started shooting at me."

"Alex… please." Corey's voice was softer now, almost desperate. "I know you don't want to kill Connor, he's your friend!"

"You really still think that? Man, what part of 'I-was-lying-the-whole-time' don't you understand?" Alex laughed.

"Now you're just lying to yourself Alex." Corey looked into the camera. "Stop this… please."

"Well, since you asked nicely…"

Suddenly, Chris was jerked around by his mechanical arm, and he threw Connor into the ruins of an old cell. Then Chris was forced to grab Corey by the collar of his shirt. The robotic arm pulled both men into the cell along with Connor, and then the bars slid shut, locking closed. Alex Luthor appeared at the end of the hall, and pointed to Mckayla. "I want to talk to her. The rest of you, sit nicely in that cell for a while."

Alex walked up to Mckayla, and looked into her eyes. "Ok, I'm listening sweet heart. Convince me."

"Alex…" Mckayla approached him cautiously. "Why are you doing this? Why are you always pushing everyone away? We don't care about your name. You were our friend before we knew you were a Luthor, and it doesn't change anything."

"You people are never going to get it, are you?" Alex frowned.

"Why don't you try explaining it to me?"

"You all think you're so damn righteous, trying to save the world. And the truth is, I couldn't care less. Apokolips versus Earth, right versus wrong, good versus evil, blah, blah, blah. I don't care. Both sides suck. We can drive Apokolips out as many times as we want, but it won't stop the human race from being just as terrible, if not worse. My father was human, and yet he was the cruelest, most vindictive soul I have ever encountered. Humans are no better than Apokoliptians, Mckayla. We're just a bunch of violent, hungry, horny animals. So… I really don't care one bit who wins. They can both die for all I care. All I want… is to kill _her_."

"Granny Goodness?"

"She stole my sister from me… and she turned her into a mindless killing machine, another pawn in Darkseid's hand. I can't let that go unpunished, Mckayla. I'm going to kill Goodness, and after that, I'm out of the game. I'm perfectly content to sit back and watch Apokolips and Earth destroy each other."

"Not all humans are bad, Alex."

"And all Apokoliptians are? How about those billions of oppressed denizens being forced to wallow in waste and succumb to Darkseid's every whim? Are they evil for being born into oppression? No. Not all humans are evil, just like not all Apokoliptians are evil… the problem is that the evil ones are in charge."

"We'll free them too. We'll free everyone."

"And then what? Set up a government? How long until that becomes corrupt? A hundred years or so and we'll be right back to warfare."

"So you're honestly willing to just let everything happen on its own, and see how it turns out?"

"Why not? It's better than making an idiot out of myself, trying to be the hero for a world that can't be saved."

"Alex… we'll help you get your revenge on Granny Goodness. And all of Apokolips."

"If I wanted your help, I wouldn't have left."

"You're smart, Alex. You're the smartest person I know. You _must _know that you can't do this on your own."

"You underestimate me. I have my own agenda in the works."

"Like what?"

"Why do you think I left the team, exactly?"

"Because you're a self-serving prick…?" Mckayla raised an eyebrow.

"Typical, narrow minded human being. My motivations were much grander than that."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"You 'heroes' are about to wage war with Apokolips. You'll be trying to free the Earth, and Apokolips will be trying to keep it oppressed. And there will be casualties on both sides, in this war. When the dust clears, you'll probably all have lost. But Apokolips will have been severely weakened by you. And once Apokolips is weakened, and you're all dead, I'll make my move. I'll take advantage of a weakened Apokolips, and kill Granny Goodness. After that, I'm retiring from the game, and I'll watch everything play out."

"So you want us to do all the hard work for you, so that you can reap the rewards later?" Mckayla scowled.

"Such a cynical woman. That's what I always found attractive about you, you know."

Mckayla was about to argue, when suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise off in the distance. "What the hell is that?" Mckayla looked off in the direction of the rumbling.

"That… is a very large airship headed our way, because you idiots led Kalibak's crew right here. Good job guys," Alex muttered.

Before anyone could respond, there was a massive blast and the East wall crumbled. An army of attack drones burst in, led by Kalibak. Chris immediately took his metallic form, and burst out of the cell, followed by Connor and Corey. "There's no way we can take them all," Connor pointed out.

"Maybe _you _can't," Alex spat. He ripped the bar cage off of the cells around him using a powerful magnetic pulse. Them, using magnetism, he bent the bars into a series of javelins which he launched toward the drones, impaling several of them.

Kalibak lunged forward. Connor pumped several arrows into him, and Mckayla let off a flurry of pistol shots, but Kalibak was undeterred by the onslaught. Chris tackled Kalibak head on, using the enhanced strength of his metallic form to hold the monster back. While Kalibak focused on shoving Chris off of him, Corey, now invisible, floated behind him and began to telepathically assault Kalibak's mind. This threw the warrior off for Chris to pummel him with a series of punches.

Mckayla battled several drones at once, shooting them with expert precision directly in their power cells. However, in the heat of battle, she did not notice the singular attack drone hovering high above her, taking aim at her head…

Alex saw the drone prepare to fire. "Mckayla! Move!" He screamed. Without hesitation, Alex tackled Mckayla out of the way just as the drone fired. A laser bolt burned its way deep into Alex's back, and he let out a scream of agony as he and Mckayla tumbled to the floor. Connor fired an explosive arrow into the drone and destroyed it.

Mckayla held Alex in her arms, as the wound on his back smoldered. He was covered in blood, and his face was pale. "I just saved your life…" he muttered. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Maybe you care a little more than you think," Mckayla responded.

Chris, seeing Alex's wound, shouted, "We've got to pull out of here right now! There's a second wave of drones coming in, and this area is way too enclosed for a full on fight!"

"Connor, give me some cover!" Corey shouted.

"Covering in progress," Connor shouted back. He fired off a "flare" arrow, straight down the hall and toward Kalibak. The arrow exploded into a brilliant burst of light, blinding Kalibak and throwing off the drone's optic sensors. While the enemies were blinded, Corey created a series of telepathic illusions; mirages of themselves, to keep Kalibak distracted while they escaped.

As the heroes quickly fled the scene of the battle, Mckayla said, "This is bad, Corey! I can barely feel Alex's pulse!"

"We don't have the medical equipment to deal with an injury like that," Chris whispered.

"I know," Corey replied.

"Flo is a healer, right?" Suggested Connor.

"Alright…" Corey nodded. "Flo may be Alex's only hope of survival. Let's get him to Tommy and his team, fast."

**-Old Birds of Prey Hideout-**

Tommy, Troy, Allie, Jesse, Quinton, Flo, Ethan, Zatina and Sky all gathered around the site where the Boom Tube had appeared. There was a dark skinned girl, bloodied and covered in ash… and she had wings. Around her, a giant Hellhound walked in circles, licking her wounds. Its nametag read 'Mercy.'

"I know her…" Allie stammered. "That's Warbird…"

"Who?" Tommy asked.

"She is the recruiter for the Female Furies. And… she's a League kid."

"Hawkgirl and John Stewart were her parents," Quinton nodded. "She had a file at the Justice Cave."

"I can't hear her heart beat…" Sky muttered. "I… I think she's dead…"

"Why would Apokolips kill their own recruiter?" Tommy frowned. "It doesn't make sense."

"She wasn't all bad…" Allie stammered. "She… spared my life."

"Jesse, run her to the infirmary. Flo, Zatina, both of you go and see if you can do anything for her. It seems unlikely but… we have to try." Tommy ordered.

"Got it," Jesse knelt down to pick her up, but found that she was immensely heavy. "What the hell? I… I can't lift her."

"Hang on…" Sky activated his X-ray vision and looked through her skin. "It looks like there's some sort of metal coating her bones. It's probably adding a lot of weight. I'll take her." Sky lifted the dead girl in his arms, and raced off toward the infirmary. Zatina and Flo followed after him, knowing that they had to at least try healing her.

"She was pretty beaten up. She didn't go down without a fight," Jesse said quietly.

"Thanagarians are warriors," Troy nodded. "I bet she fought it out until the very end."

"Guys… this was a message. It was no coincidence that they sent her to us," Allie frowned. "They're warning us."

"Warning us of what, exactly?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"That if we fight them…" Tommy sighed, "We'll be killed."

**A/N: Just a heads up… there are going to be some BIG reveals in the next chapter. Everything is going to heat up very soon… so stay tuned ;)**


	23. Trojan Horse

**Fair warning to all my dedicated readers who have followed the story this far; this chapter is going to be ridiculously long. I have a lot of ground to cover, and I was originally going to split this chapter into two parts, but I started writing and thought, 'It's been a while since I updated. I'll make up for it with a massive amount of content.'**

**So, here's my Disclaimer on the matter: **_**Sorahart claims no responsibility for the substantial amount of your time that will likely be spent reading this chapter. Any time you feel has been wasted is non-refundable, so deal with it. You probably weren't doing anything important anyway.**_

**Now that you've all agreed to the terms of my sternly worded disclaimer… enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty-Three: Revelations

_ Corey and his crew arrived about three hours after we admitted Kavita Stewart to the infirmary. They had Alex with them. He was wounded badly. We didn't have room in the infirmary for him… but we've done the best we can. As much as I dislike Alex… I can't let him die. Besides, we need him. He plays into my plan for the Atlantis assault. We're moving out soon. As soon as Alex recovers. Hopefully we can rat out the traitor before then. I need to find a time to talk to Allie again… hear what she has to say. I need to talk to Allie, period. Alone. It seems like we're always being interrupted... _

_ But I'm not here to talk about my feelings. I'm here to record the events that will take place over these next several days; so that whether we win or lose, live or die; there will be a record of our efforts. There will be proof of our rebellion. There will be evidence to the heroes of the future that there IS hope. That Apokolips CAN be fought. If we die… this journal is our legacy. And maybe whoever finds it can be inspired to follow in our footsteps. Apokolips can kill us, but short of killing all of human kind, there is nothing they can do to keep us down for long. When one generation falls, another rises to fight in their place. And that cycle will continue… until Apokolips gives up on the fight. Until they give us our freedom._

_ -Thomas Grayson_

_ July 1__st__, 2029_

Tommy closed his journal on what could very well be his final entry. "The war is about to begin…" he sighed, "Time to draw the battle lines."

…

"This is useless," Flo sighed. "She's dead."

"I know," Zatina pulled her hand away from Kavita's body, ready to give up on trying to heal her. "Let's move Alex in here and-"

_"Uh…" _a small whimper arose from below.

"Did… did you hear that too…?" Zatina asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Don't worry Z, you aren't _that _crazy," Flo smiled, looking down at Kavita. Her hand was beginning to twitch.

"H-how? She's been clinically dead for four hours now!" Zatina gasped.

"It's a Thanagarian defense mechanism," answered a voice from behind. Flo spun around to see Quinton standing a mere three inches away from her.

"Good Lord Q!" She gasped, stumbling backward. "I thought we talked about that 'appearing out of nowhere' thing?"

"Did we? I don't remember. We haven't talked about anything lately," Quinton said with a slight edge to his voice, which surprised Flo.

"Uh… Q? You were saying something about a defense mechanism?" Zatina chimed in.

"Yes. Thanagarians sometime fall into a state of simulated death to fool their enemies. In fact their brain, heart and lung functions are still active, but the activity is so faint that it's nearly undetectable. Even by Kryptonian super hearing, as demonstrated when Sky said he couldn't hear her heartbeat."

"So she's just been… playing possum?" Flo raised an eyebrow, and glanced back down at Kavita. "That's… that's actually really cool."

"Thanagarians are some of my favorite species to study," Quinton nodded. "You might know that Flo… if you talked to me about it."

Flo shot Quinton a glare and said, "Can we not do this right now, Q?"

"Do what? I'm just having a conversation. You know, one of those things that we haven't had in weeks."

"Quinton, I mean it. We'll talk later, ok? Right now I have two people in desperate need of healing, I haven't slept in seventy-two hours because I had to cover for your ass while you were out gallivanting with Jesse and Sky, and-"

"Wait a minute, _gallivanting? _We were trying to save Fate's life!"

"Actually, Jesse made me promise I would go by Zatina now," The young sorceress chimed in.

"No offense, but I really don't give a shit at the moment," Quinton snapped. "My point is that we were out saving her life, so don't act like it was some juvenile escapade!"

"Quinton… later," Flo pleaded.

"Fine," Q scowled. "Nice talking to you… sort of."

Quinton turned and exited the room, leaving Flo and Zatina to tend to the wounded. "What the hell is all that about?" Zatina frowned.

"He is so damn clingy," Flo shook her head in frustration.

"No offense Flo, but I don't think he's really being 'clingy' if you avoid him for as long as you have been. Why are you, by the way?"

"I don't know…"

"Liar."

"Shut up."

"Was he like… terrible when you guys had sex?"

Flo looked up at Zatina quizzically, and held her gaze for a moment. "What?" Z questioned.

"Nothing. I just realized why you and Jesse get along," Flo smiled, and then returned to her work.

"Well, I just think you're being kind of a bitch to Quinton. Again, no offense. Whatever he did I'm sure-"

"I'm terrified, Z."

Zatina stopped her work and looked Flo in the eyes. "Terrified of what?"

"Of loving him. Loving _anyone_. Do you realize what's happening around us?" Flo motioned her hands toward Kavita and Alex's bloodied bodies. "This isn't a game anymore. People are getting hurt. People are _dying_. I can't bear the thought of getting that close to Quinton and then…"

"I know exactly what you mean. Back in the Phantom Zone, when I saw Jesse fighting Grayven and Inertia… all I could think was, _'What if he dies?'_ It's… its really scary. But… you shouldn't let fear dictate how you live your life, Flo."

"Why not? I always did before…" Flo sighed. "I lived a good life. I hid out in the water, in my little secret coves, with my fish to talk to… I was safe for sixteen years. Well, as safe as you can get under Apokolips' rule, you know? And then… and then I saved Tommy's life that day, the first time he left the cave… and ever since then, everything's been totally upside down. I just… I want it all to go back. I want to be safe again… I don't want to have to spend every waking moment fearful that I might die. That someone I _love _might die. That if we fail, _everyone _might die! I… I respect you, and Jesse, and Tommy and Allie and all of you, because you're strong enough to do this. But I'm not. I haven't slept in days; I can't think straight, I'm always afraid to walk around the corner…" Flo could no longer hold back the gush of tears, and began to sob into her hands. "I'm not strong enough for this. And I'm definitely not strong enough for Quinton."

"Flo…" Zatina said softly. Without another word, she hugged Flo tightly. "Flo, I can't promise that none of us are going to die. Hell, I can't promise that _all _of us won't die. But I can promise… whatever happens, we're in this together. All of us. We're a family. We'll take care of each other."

Suddenly, there was a rustling from the bed which had been forcefully stuffed into the corner of the small infirmary. The girls looked to see Alex Luthor slowly sitting up, his eyes fluttering open. "That's very sweet…" He muttered, "Now… where the hell is Tommy with this damned plan that everyone kept yammering about?"

…

Sky Kent sat firmly on the highest point of the tower, looking out onto the world below. He'd lost track of how long he'd been up there. At his side was Mercy, the Hellhound that had come through the Boom Tube with Kavita. The dog had taken a liking to him.

"Sky?" A voice rang out from behind.

"Hi Jesse," Sky breathed.

"How'd you know it was me?"

"I can hear your heartbeat. It's a bit faster than everyone else's… you're always easy to identify."

"Ok, good to know I guess…" Jesse sat down next to Sky, his legs hanging over the roof of the tower.

A gust of wind blew Sky's blond hair away from his face, exposing his normally vibrant blue eyes. But today, their vivacity was gone, replaced with a deep sorrow.

"What's your deal?" Jesse asked, "Why have you been sitting up here all day?"

"I just… wanted to clear my head."

"Funny, I thought it was pretty empty to begin with," Jesse grinned. Sky did not respond, he only sat there in continued silence. "Dude, that was a joke," Jesse frowned. "Come on, what's got our normally cheery little Kryptonian down in the dumps?"

"I'm more interested in why you came up here to ask."

"Regardless of how I may act, Sky, I really do give a crap about people other than myself."

"You're heartbeat just jumped. You told a lie… or at least omitted the truth."

"_Huh_… you know Corey? He's getting suspicious. There's still a mole in our team, mind you, and Corey's determined to sniff it out… you isolating yourself up where nobody can see you all day, does nothing to help your case."

"How do you know I'm not the traitor?"

"Process of elimination. There was evidence of a traitor in our ranks before we even met you, so you're the first person we can cross off."

"Did you tell that to Corey?"

"Hell no, Corey scares the living shit out of me."

"Can't blame you there. Martians in general, man… they're like Kryptonians, plus a few extra powers and minus the ability to show emotion."

"So you still haven't answered my question… why are you sitting up here all by yourself?"

"That girl… Kavita…"

"Yeah?"

"I've just… never seen death before, you know? I grew up in a pod, for God's sake… when you guys woke me up; I was just ready to party. I'd never really been exposed to the real world before, and I didn't quite understand how bad it is… I thought this was all just gonna' be a big, fun joyride. There was no way we could lose… we were the good guys! But… then I saw Kavita dead. And that killed the fantasy, you know? I realize it now… this is all real. This isn't a game, and we might not win… it sucks."

Jesse seemed to ponder this for a moment. Then he said, "A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."

"Whoa…" Sky gaped, "Did you make that up?"

"I wish. That's a quote by Oscar Wilde."

"Who…?"

"A guy who died long before the world sucked. Well, actually… it still sucked. But it sucked because of the people in it… not because of the forces ruling it. Which, I guess, is a lesser degree of suckage."

"How do you know this?"

"Back during my days as a con man, I pawned off a few old books to some of Darkseid's officials on Earth. Sometimes, before I pawned them, I read them."

"What does that quote mean?"

"Well, there are a lot of ways to interpret it… but I always took it this way. A dreamer lives outside of reality; he doesn't follow the path set out by others… he finds his own way. And because of that, he can see how perpetually fucked up the world around him is, while everybody around him just goes along with it… and that's a dreamer's punishment. A dreamer knows that the world around him is wrong, but other people don't know it, and he can never convince them."

"Huh…" Sky looked at his feet. "So how is that relevant here?"

"You're a dreamer, Sky. And here's my advice; don't ever wake up. Reality isn't worth it."

"Thanks, Jesse."

"Oh, I almost forgot something…" Jesse fished into his pocket and pulled out a ring. "This is a flight ring. Inertia used it to navigate in the null-gravity of the Phantom Zone. I snatched it off of him during our fight, and… since you have trouble flying and all… I thought you might like to have it."

"Wait…" Sky's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You mean, if I put that on…"

"You'll be able to live up to your name," Jesse smiled. "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Sky in the sky!"

"Thank you so much," Sky rolled the ring around in his palm.

"No problem dreamer," Jesse got up and headed back toward the ladder. "By the way, if you _ever _tell anyone that I came up here quoting Oscar Wilde, I'll turn that ring on, shove it up your ass and watch your pelvis fly up out your nose."

"Duly noted," Sky laughed, and in a blur, the speedster was gone.

…

Allie Queen desperately needed some alone time. She'd spent the last several hours "babysitting" Kio and Prome. She liked kids, but after dealing with two super-powered, ten-year-old delinquents for a day, on very little sleep, under a high amount of stress, Allie was teetering on the brink of insanity.

As she was mustering up the energy to ask Prome to stop pulling Kio's hair for the eighteenth time, she caught sight of Connor Queen, her illegitimate bastard brother, walking down the hall. "Connor!" She spoke in the girliest, sweetest voice that she could summon, jumping out to greet him with a flutter of her eyelashes and a cute head-tilt. "I'm so glad I caught you, I've been wanting to talk to you for, like, _ever_."

"Um… alright. What's up Allie?" Connor muttered, unsure of how to approach the situation.

"Well, you know, you're my big brother… I just thought we should hang out and stuff."

"Ok, sure," Connor sounded delightfully uncomfortable. "What did you have in mind?"

"I actually _really _need a favor, if you aren't busy…"

"Well, I'm supposed to take inventory on Corey's weapons cache and-"

"_Please?" _Allie was going all out now, puffy lips and all.

"Ok, what do you need?"

Suddenly, Allie was all business. She pointed to the room she had just come out of and said, "Those two spikey haired little monsters in there? Watch them, don't let them kill each other, and try to keep collateral damage to a minimum. If they get hungry, my bow is under the bed, shoot a bird or something. Good luck."

"Allie, wait, I don't think that's a good-" But before Connor could argue, Allie had pushed him into the room, closed the door on him and set out to enjoy some silence.

…

There was a training room beneath the Clock Tower in which the team had taken residence. The equipment was old and rusty, but it was good enough for Tommy Grayson. He stopped at the door to the room, in which he caught sight of something he had not noticed before. In the corner of the dusty little window centered in the door, there was a photograph. The photo was caked in dust and cobwebs, obscuring the image. Tommy carefully pulled the photo out and began to brush it off, careful not to tear it.

The image was that of a stunning blond… Dinah Lance. Tommy stared at the photograph for a long time. She was younger then. It had been taken years before The Invasion. She looked happy, vibrant, full of energy… beautiful. _Just like Allie, _Tommy thought, a grin creeping onto his face. He turned the picture around to see some writing scribbled on the back, in purple ink. It took him a while to decipher the handwriting.

_Your last photo as a free woman. Always remember… this is what you looked like BEFORE you settled down with a rich, bearded, womanizing playboy. You could have done better, huh? But in all seriousness Dinah… I'm happy for you. All of us are. I can't promise I'll be at your wedding (you know, superhero stuff), but I can promise you one thing; you are going to live a long, happy life as Mrs. Dinah Queen, and if Ollie EVER hurts you, I'll pluck out his eyes, cut off his balls and stick them in the eye sockets._

_ -Helena_

Tommy smiled, and carefully placed the photo in his pocket. He planned on giving it to Allie later. She'd love it.

Tommy turned the door knob and stepped into the training room. Immediately, he was surprised to see it occupied by the lovely Mckayla Saunders, Corey's combat trainer. Mckayla was attacking a practice dummy, busting out martial arts techniques that Tommy had never seen before. She wore bandages around her hands and wrists, and had long since removed her shirt, training in only a sports bra. Old scars decorated her body, complimented by recent bruises. Her speed was unbelievable. Tommy guessed that Mckayla's reaction time was probably on par with Jesse's.

After a few seconds of rapid attack, the dummy collapsed against Mckayla's onslaught, falling into a ruined heap. She looked over to Tommy, her light brown hair a mess, sweat beading her brow. Her look was fierce as usual; intense, but with a layer of compassion beneath. "Thought you were talking to Alex?"

"I'm going to let him wake up a bit. He's doped up on whatever spell Zatina cast to ease his pain, and barely registered anything I tried saying to him."

"I don't like magic," Mckayla shook her head, wiping the sweat off her face with her shirt. "Too chaotic. I like things you can understand and control."

"Like guns?"

"Guns are my secondary weapon in combat. _I'm _my primary weapon. I've spent my life mastering my body, gaining one-hundred percent physical control."

"So what's your story?" Tommy asked, unleashing a rapid-fire attack on a punching bag.

"You mean what led me to work with Corey?"

"Yeah."

"Moral compass."

"That's it?"

"Not everyone needs a tragic backstory, Tommy. I'm twenty-four… I remember what the world was like before Apokolips. _Barely_, but I do remember. And I'm fighting to bring that back. I don't have a horrible past; I just decided to help fight Apokolips because it's the right thing to do."

"You're a better person than me," Tommy sighed, stepping away from the punching bag. "When this all started… I was just going out for a joyride. And I ended up getting Dinah killed… because of my stupid, selfish little escapade. It took me inadvertently causing the death of the woman who raised me… just to get off my ass and do something right."

"You're not still on the self-deprecating depression trip, are you? Look, Tommy, everybody makes mistakes. Even you, ok? Get over it. You screwed up. But since then, you've done nothing but make up for that. If Dinah saw you now, _still _caught up on her death, she would kick your ass. Man up."

Suddenly, Tommy turned and struck the punching bag so hard that the chain snapped, and the punching bag went flying across the room. "You think I don't know? You really think that I couldn't move on if I tried? That's the thing nobody understands. Everybody keeps telling me I need to let go of the guilt. But what they don't understand is that the guilt doesn't hold me down, it pushes me forward. I need it. Without it, I would have nothing to motivate me. Without the guilt, I would go back to being that selfish, arrogant punk that I've grown to despise. Do you get that? I don't hold on to the guilt because I want pity. I hold onto it because I need motivation."

Mckayla stared at Tommy for a long time, and a grin crept onto her face. "What…?" Tommy asked tentatively.

"It's just… Alex told me something exactly like that once, about why he carries that grudge over his sister's death… you know, you and Alex are a lot alike."

"No, we're not."

"Whatever, Tommy." Mckayla rolled her eyes and pulled on her shirt, preparing to leave the training room.

"Hey, Mckayla…"

"Yeah?"

"You and Alex… you two dated, right?"

"Yup. Back when he was still part of Corey's team. Before he went rogue."

"Will you come with me, to talk to him?"

"If you think that will help…"

"He got himself injured saving your life. He obviously still cares about you. Maybe if you're there, he'll lower his shields long enough for me to reason with him."

"Ok," Mckayla smiled, and then began to laugh.

"What's funny?"

"That's _exactly _the kind of plan Alex would come up with," Mckayla gave Tommy a grin, and exited the room.

"Shit…" Tommy grunted. "I am like him."

…

"How are you feeling?" Flo asked as Kavita sat up in the hospital bed, having just awoken from her coma.

"Like I was hit repeatedly by a truck," Kavita groaned. "Where am I?"

"This is the infirmary at what used to be the Birds of Prey headquarters. I'm Florialla Curry, but people just call me Flo. That girl over there in the punk rock getup, that's Zatina Blood. We healed your wounds."

"Yeah… I recognize you… Granny Goodness made me memorize your file. All of your files. But… _ugh_, my head…"

"You're going to be in a lot of pain for at least a couple of hours. Your brain pretty much shut off when blood stopped flowing, turning back on isn't an easy process."

"We were barely able to save you," Zatina added. "If it weren't for your Thanagarian healing factor, there's no way we would have been able to revive you in time."

"My memory is really fuzzy…" Kavita frowned, clutching her skull. "I remember bits and pieces of everything but… there are pieces missing."

"What exactly do you remember… about all of us?" Flo asked, raising an eyebrow. "Granny made you memorize files on us, right? How much do you remember about those?"

"Not a whole lot," Kavita sighed. "Why?"

"Just… wondering how many introductions are in order," Flo smiled. "Welcome to the family."

…

Darkseid stood prominently in his throne room, hands clasped behind his back, as a holographic transmission arrived in the center of the room. A holographic image of his spy among the heroes on Earth. The traitor amidst the team.

"I bring… unsavory news, Lord Darkseid," the traitor said. "Kavita Stewart survived."

"Unfortunate," Darkseid frowned. "But no matter. She will pose little threat to my forces."

"But she may pose a threat to _me_, Lord Darkseid," the traitor pleaded. "Before Kavita's betrayal, she was made to memorize Granny Goodness's files on the team. She knows that I am the spy."

"Have you been exposed?"

"Not yet. Kavita appears amnesiac for the time being. But it can only be a matter of time before she regains her memory… and then, my cover will be blown."

"Then you must act now, before she can expose you. No more lying in wait. Make yourself known to them, and do as much damage as you can. I will send a fleet of warships to your destination, to exterminate the _heroes_."

"As you wish, Lord Darkseid."

The transmission ended, and Darkseid began to signal his fleet…

…

Ethan Pierce was no longer human. Flo's scan on his body had confirmed this. Absorbing Darkseid's Omega Beams had forced Ethan into a state of rapid evolution, and he had become what's called a New God. The same race as the likes of Darkseid, or Orion.

According to everything Quinton had been able to tell him, New God's usually had strength, speed and durability on par with Kryptonians, if not above. So… Ethan set out to test that.

Bounding along the mountainside, Ethan's leaps were clearing miles at a time! He felt exhilarated… a kind of freedom that he had never even imagined before. However, upon landing atop a mountain peak, Ethan saw something disturbing off in the distance. Ships. Apokoliptian airships.

"Oh no…" Ethan froze, looking back toward the Clock Tower that the team had taken up residence in. The fleet was headed in that direction. "This is not good… they know where we are. Damn it. The traitor must have given away our location… I've got to warn the others."

Ethan turned to head back to base, but there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly he found himself surrounded by Parademons. One flew at him, murder in its eyes. Ethan found that his reflexes were significantly greater than before, and he punched the creature straight out of the air with such force that its skull must have shattered. The Parademon dropped to the ground, drooling, a blank look in its eyes.

Another fired a laser blast toward Ethan. He braced for impact, but to his surprise, his body automatically absorbed it! "Sweet," Ethan grinned, feeling his body charged by the surge. He held out his hands and unleashed the energy back at the creatures, incinerating them. Ethan took only a moment to relish in his new power, before taking off toward the Clock Tower, determined to warn his team of the coming attack.

…

Corey and his crew had arrived at the Clock Tower in an airship. The airship had originally been Apokoliptian, but Corey's crew had salvaged it and modified it to suit their needs. Inside the ship, Chris Magnus was hard at work, making adjustments and modifications to his new robotic arm.

He had lost an arm in the fight with Darkseid a while back, and had since replaced it with a cybernetic arm of his own design. Chris was a master technician. He had always been good with machines; something he'd gotten from his father, Doc Magnus… the creator of the Metal Men.

Chris had always been very solitary. Never a social butterfly. He joined Corey's team because he thought it was the right thing to do, but he'd never really connected with anyone on the team. Connor and Corey shared a kind of brotherhood… and Mckayla was a sister to them, and there was this strong sense of comradery… in that respect, Chris was the outsider. In some ways, he found it easier to relate to machines than people. Machines had set patterns, specific functions… they were predictable, understandable. The same could not be said about humans.

So Chris was content to work alone, in his little workshop, crafting weapons and tools for Corey's army. By himself, the way he preferred it. Suddenly, a female voice penetrated the air, making Chris jump in surprise. "What do you have going on in here?"

Chris turned to see the lovely Allie Queen approaching him. "Um… hi," he said meekly, adjusting his glasses. "Hi Allie."

"Sorry if I'm interrupting something," Allie apologized. "I was just curious about what you do in here all day."

"I, uh… I build stuff." Chris stammered the words as if he were just learning how to speak. Talking to people in general was not at all his specialty. But talking to _women_… especially an attractive woman like Allie… he didn't have a clue what to do.

"You build stuff?" Allie grinned. "Sounds riveting."

"Oh, I see what you did there," Chris laughed.

"Ok… what did I do…?" Allie laughed.

"Riveting. Like, rivets… they're used in construction."

"Oh, I get it. Ha, I made an accidental pun."

"And I made an accidental fool of myself…" Chris blushed, and turned back around to his work bench.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Allie smiled. "You should have seen Quinton when he first hit puberty. All the sudden, he couldn't talk to my mom without having to change his pants."

"If she looked anything like you, I'm not surprised," Chris said, and immediately, his eyes bulged in horror. "I'm sorry! That was inappropriate, I shouldn't-"

"Dude, chill out. It's ok. That was nice," she put her hand on Chris's shoulder.

"Sorry," he sighed. "I'm not good at this stuff."

"What 'stuff' is this?" Allie smiled.

"Well… human interaction in general."

"Hey, I grew up with two antisocial adopted brothers, so I can deal with that."

"Yeah… Quinton seems like kind of a wall flower. And Tommy seems like the kid who walks by and steps on that flower."

Allie laughed. "See? You're funny. You just to loosen up more. Maybe leave your workshop now and then, actually talk to people."

"Hey, um… I don't want to be offensive or anything, but… _why _did you come in here?"

"I was bored. I've been babysitting Kio and Prome all day… boy is that exhausting. So I dumped them on Connor and took a walk. I noticed the light in here was on, and I wanted to come see what you were working on."

"Well… right now I'm working on my arm," Chris said, showing her the bionic appendage. "I figure, I'm stuck with a cybernetic limb… I might as well trick it out. I'm adding all sorts of gadgets to it."

"Awesome. Way to take lemons and make lemonade. You lose an arm, and get a sci-fi Swiss army knife."

"That's the idea," Chris nodded.

"What are these?" Allie asked, picking up a pair of strange looking goggles. "I like them. They've got a real Steampunk vibe."

"I don't know what that means."

"You really don't leave the workshop much, do you?" Allie grinned. "Seriously, what are these for?"

"Those are x-ray goggles. I thought they might help us weed out the traitor in our midst, if we can see through walls and stuff."

"No way! Do they work?"

"Sort of. I'm having trouble making the depth function work."

"Depth function?"

"Basically, it's controlling how far the goggles see. Like, do you want to see a person's underwear, or their skeleton? With the depth function, you can control what they show you."

"Sweet. So I could use these to look at Jesse's dopey banana boxers?"

"If you wanted to, yes."

"Why would anyone _not _want to?" Allie laughed, sliding the goggles on. "Whoa…" Suddenly, she was seeing into the next room. "These are amazing!"

"Thank you. That's just the prototype. The finalized version will have other settings too, such as thermal vision, energy detection systems, stuff like that."

"This is what you do all day? Just tinker with gadgets like this?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "Sometimes I prefer the company of machines to people. At least I can understand why machines do the things they do."

"I understand that," Allie sighed. "I can't figure Tommy out lately. It's like… there's this weird tension, but neither of us are brave enough to acknowledge it, you know? I wish I could just look inside his head, and see what's going on in there. He's so distant…"

"You're asking the wrong person for relationship advice," Chris smiled. "The closest thing I've ever had to a relationship was with an AI program I created… and she broke up with me."

"Was that a joke…?"

"Yes."

"Good, because I'd feel really bad if I laughed and you were serious," Allie smiled. Both of them laughed, and then were quiet for a moment. "Well, its been nice getting to know you, Chris."

"Yeah. You too, Allie."

"Oh, here are your goggles back…"

"Keep them. I've just decided to change the design a little… goggles are obvious. I'm going to make x-ray contact lenses."

"Really? Sweet! And thanks." Allie slid the goggles into her pocket. "I'll be seeing you."

Allie started to leave, but as she reached the door, a figure appeared in front of her, obstructing her passage. "Hi Allie."

"Troy…?"

…

Tommy and Mckayla entered the infirmary just as Flo and Zatina were leaving with Kavita, to show her around. Alex Luthor was sitting upright on his mattress, his trademark grin adorning his face. Tommy hated that grin. So filled with a sense of absolutely superiority; Alex didn't think he was better than everyone else, he _knew_ it, and it showed within his arrogant little smile.

"Hello Thomas," Alex chided in the most debonair voice he could muster. "I see you brought my old flame along. Very strategic of you. Hoping to reignite some long-diminished compassion in my heart, perhaps? It's not working, but I applaud your effort. Such a complicated plan must have been very taxing on your inbred bat-brain."

"Could you be any more of a jackass?" Mckayla frowned.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Alex, you _need _to hear me out," Tommy did his best to sound sincere. "I have a plan to win this war. But we need you."

"What if I don't _want _to win the war, Tommy? Believe it or not, the world was still terrible even before Apokolips came in and took over. Always on the brink of war, poverty and hunger running rampant, people driven by greed, lust, becoming more ignorant, more hopelessly desensitized to their own horrors day by day. If anything, Darkseid did humanity a favor when he took away free will. All I want… is my revenge. I want to kill Granny Goodness, and I can do it without you and your little band of rebels. Ok?"

"Alex," Mckayla stepped in, "You can't honestly believe that _all _humans are like that. That there aren't some worth saving."

"Really? Like you, my ever-so-loyal girlfriend who I caught banging Connor Queen? You know, Connor… the guy who was willing to betray our friendship in the name of getting laid. Or Corey… my 'best friend' who is so damn paranoid that he runs a background check on his own shadow, and kicked my ass to the curb the moment I disagreed with him? Or my dad, who was a psychopathic, egotistical monster who beat me every chance he got? Or Tommy here, a self-righteous, anger-driven punk with no respect for anyone but his little not-girlfriend? All of you people disgust me. People in general disgust me. The only human being worth saving was my sister, Alexia. Sweet, innocent, caring, compassionate Alexia… who was murdered in cold blood, because she wasn't violent enough for Granny Goodness to use."

Mckayla started to speak again, but Tommy cut her off. "Forget it. He isn't changing his mind," Tommy turned to leave. "If he wants to fly solo, let him. I can make a new plan… one that doesn't involve this prick."

Tommy reached the door, and stopped, clasping his hand on the doorframe. "You know, Alex… you can sit there and scrutinize the people around you all you want. But have you ever once reflected on your own actions? All you ever do is lie and cheat and manipulate people. Maybe if you'd get off the soap box for five minutes, you'd realize that you're just another filthy human."

Tommy exited the room, slamming the door behind him. Corey was waiting on the other end, arms folded. "I'm guessing that didn't go well?"

"Time for a new plan," Tommy scowled. "He's too set in his ways to help us."

Suddenly, on the other end of the room, Sky perked up, looking off in the distance. Jesse noticed this, and asked, "What is it?"

"Something's coming. Really fast. I can hear it."

At almost the same moment Sky finished his sentence, Ethan burst through the door. "Tommy! We need to move _now_!"

"What's going on?" Corey demanded.

"There's a fleet coming. Apokoliptian ships… more than I could count. I got ambushed by a pack of Parademons on the way over here. They know where we are."

"How did they find us?" Sky exclaimed.

"The traitor," Corey grit his teeth. "Roll call, now. Who isn't here? Who might have snuck away to alert Apokolips to our location?"

"I've been here all day," Jesse piped in immediately.

"Jesse, we all know it isn't you." Quinton sighed.

"Hey! I _could _be the traitor!" Jesse said defensively.

"Jesse, you can't even go to the bathroom without announcing it the room. If you were sneaking off and feeding Apokolips our information, we would have found out by now."

"Both of you shut up!" Corey barked.

"This is ridiculous!" Flo screamed, "Why are we playing detective _now_? There's a fleet coming our way, we need to move, and sort the mess out later!"

"It won't matter where we go as long as we keep this traitor in our midst," Corey argued. "We'll never be able to get away until we weed them out."

"Well Flo and I were here in the infirmary all day," Zatina said. "Neither of us were sneaking off to signal an army."

"I can vouch for Tommy's innocence," Mckayla said. "He was in the training room with me with morning."

"Mckayla was there even before me," Tommy added. "That rules the two of us out."

"I've been right here all day. You've all seen me around," Quinton chimed in to defend his innocence.

"What about the Kryptonian?" Corey looked to Sky. "You were gone most of the morning. Nobody could find you."

"Jesse found me," Sky argued. "I was on the roof."

"So your only witness is the same man who we've just deemed incompetent?" Corey scowled.

"Hey!" Jesse yelped, but Quinton shut him up quickly.

"Let this play out, Jesse. There's no need to escalate the fight further than it has to go," Q whispered.

Sky approached Corey, staring him down. Corey stood a head taller than the blonde Kryptonian, but Sky was determined to not back down. "There was a traitor in the team before you people even _knew _me."

"How convenient," Corey grunted.

"What about _you_, Corey? Where were you this whole time? I haven't seen you all day!"

"I've been remaining invisible, watching all of you for suspicious activity."

"So you just admitted to spying on us. Say, isn't that kind of what _spies _do?"

"Are you accusing me of something, runt?" Corey shoved Sky.

"I thought that was pretty obvious," Sky shoved Corey back, this one much more powerful. Corey flew across the room and smashed straight through the wall, tumbling into the next room.

"Big mistake," Corey growled, his eyes blazing red. In an instant, Corey shape shifted into a monstrous, rhinoceros-like creature and tackled Sky, ramming him into the floor. Sky dropped to his knees and threw Corey upwards, tossing him into the ceiling. Corey fell back down, and Sky delivered a punch to his face, blasting the Martian outside.

Corey tumbled across the grass, enraged. Sky charged at him, but Corey used his telepathy to attack Sky mentally, throwing off his balance. Sky tripped up, smashing into the ground, and Corey delivered a crushing punch to his sternum.

Enraged, Sky blasted a wave of heat vision at Corey, blowing him away. Corey, having a natural vulnerability to extreme heat, was greatly harmed by the heat vision, letting out a pained shriek. He reverted to his natural Martian form, and stumbled around, weakened by the blaze.

Sky punched Corey in the jaw and knocked him into a nearby tree, and then unleashed a torrent of freeze-breath, icing Corey's lower body and trapping him. "You _really _thought that would work?" Corey growled. He became intangible and phased out of the ice blockade, and punched Sky in the face. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

Sky got to his feet and reared up to hit Corey again, but Tommy jumped in, standing between the two. "Stop it! This isn't solving anything," Tommy screamed. "Corey, it doesn't make any sense that Sky would be the traitor. We found him _after _there was already a traitor in our midst. And Sky, Corey… well, Corey might actually be the traitor."

"Seriously?" Corey snapped.

"What puts you above suspicion, Corey? Can you provide one piece of solid evidence that it isn't you?"

"Yeah. I've kept my word. I promised you and your time that I wouldn't read your minds without permission, and I haven't. If I were the traitor, don't you think I would take every opportunity I had to see what you guys were thinking?"

"Fine," Tommy sighed. "So it isn't you, me, Sky, Mckayla, Jesse, Quinton, Zatina or Flo. Who does that leave?"

Quinton jumped in by saying, "Through common sense we can rule out Alex and Kavita."

"What about Allie? Has anyone seen her?" Corey questioned.

"It is _not _Allie," Tommy said immediately, glaring at Corey.

"How do you know?"

"Because I know!"

"Tommy, I think you're letting your emotions cloud your judgment on this one. Think about it… Allie was kidnapped by Granny Goodness, and since we got her back, there's been definite evidence of a mole on the team. Plus, nobody has seen her for hours. It all adds up, Tommy. Allie is the traitor."

"What about your boy Chris? Nobody _ever _sees him! He just stays in his workshop all day, who knows what he might be doing!"

"I trust Chris," Corey snapped.

"Well _I _trust Allie."

Jesse turned to Ethan. "I bet you're the traitor, aren't you?"

"Me?" Ethan looked shocked. "I'm the one who warned you the fleet was coming!"

"Yeah, that's convenient, isn't it?" Jesse frowned. "You called that fleet to attack us, and then you came running back to warn us they were coming, making yourself look innocent."

"Jesse, we both know that you're just calling me out because you don't like me," Ethan did his best to remain calm.

"Hey guys…" Flo piped up, and everyone looked to her. "Has anybody seen Troy today?"

Silence passed over the group.

"Troy…" Corey muttered.

Tommy nodded. "Troy."

…

Back in Chris's workshop, Allie looked at Troy, confused by the look in his eyes. All the emotion had been drained from Troy's gaze, replaced with a cold, cynical stare. "Troy… is something wrong?"

"Allie… I am so sorry for this," Troy drew his sword.

Instinctively, Allie flung a kick at Troy, but his superhuman reflexes proved too much for her. He grabbed her ankle, and easily threw her down. "Don't try that again. I really don't want to hurt you."

"Hey man, what is this?" Chris took on his metal form, and morphed his right hand into a hammer, his left hand into a mace.

"It would be extremely unwise for you to attack me, Chris. Consider this your only warning."

"You're the traitor… aren't you?" Chris grit his teeth.

"That would be the obvious conclusion, but not really the correct one. Believe it or not, I'm on your side," Troy took a step forward. "The people I'm working for… are people that even Darkseid fears."

"I am going to punch you _so _hard…" Chris charged at Troy.

Allie screamed, "Chris! Don't!" But it was too late. Chris swung at Troy. Using his Amazonian speed, Troy dodged the attack and grabbed Chris's wrist. He then swept downward, kicked out Chris's legs, and flung him over his back. Chris hit the ground hard, and Troy stomped hard on his throat.

Allie ran into the fray, but with a simple sweep of his arm, Chris struck Allie with superhuman force, fracturing her jaw. Allie hit the floor, blood running from her mouth. _Why didn't I bring my bow? I need my bow. A sonic scream in close quarters like this… off of metal walls… would kill all three of us._

Troy picked Chris up by the neck. Chris, still in his metal form, in which he weighed well over three hundred pounds, was no challenge for Troy to lift with one arm. With his other arm, Troy grabbed Chris's cybernetic limb and crushed it. Sparks flew, and Troy ripped the robotic arm straight out of its socket.

Troy then threw Chris with tremendous force, sending him flying like a steel wrecking ball… directly into Allie. The sound of bone cracking reverberated throughout the room, followed by Allie's scream.

Troy removed a small, circular disc from his back pocket, and attached it to the wall. Once it was safely attached, a light in the center began blinking. All Allie could think was, _It's a bomb!_

Chris wobbled to his feet, now possessing only one arm. Allie grabbed him, pleading with him to stand down. "Chris, please don't… he's too strong…"

"You should listen to her, Chris. I honestly don't want to kill anyone today. I've grown to like most of you. Especially you, Allie. That's why I have to do this, you see… to protect you from yourselves."

"You're insane," Allie spat, blood trickling down her chin.

Chris charged again, his remaining arm morphed into the form of a sword this time. "Pitiful…" Troy muttered. He raised his blade and clashed against Chris's. However, immediately after the blades met, Troy shifted his feet and jammed the hilt of his sword into Chris's abdomen, weakening his stance.

"You've got a lot of brute force, but your technique is unrefined. Sloppy," Troy stated.

"Thanks for the constructive criticism, asshole." Chris shoved Troy away from him and swept his arm out in a broad slash. Troy bent backwards, and the blade sailed above him. Troy planted his hands on the wall behind him, kicked his feet up and delivered a crushing double-kick to Chris's chest. While Chris stumbled back, thrown off kilter by the attack, Troy grabbed him, held his bladed arm outward, and thrust him toward Ally!

Using Chris like a human javelin, Troy rammed the blade into Ally's shoulder, drawing a fountain of blood. The blade cleaved straight through her shoulder, stabbing into the wall behind her, trapping Ally in place.

Ally let out a pained shriek, tears streaming down her face, blood pouring over her. "Troy please stop! Please…"

"How pathetic are you?" Troy eyed her with a look of curiosity. Not hatred, not anger, not even recognition… just curiosity, as if she were a specimen to be studied. "You act tough, but the moment the tides are turned against you, you're crying out for someone to save you. Tommy isn't here. Quinton isn't here. Jesse isn't here. All your little friends have failed you, Allie. You're all alone. And you're nothing."

Allie, pushing through the pain, tried to muster up the energy to use her sonics. In such an enclosed space, a sonic scream was out of the question… but she could still try and use her abilities to activate the dormant receptors in Troy's brain, hopefully make him back down. She spoke softly, manipulating a sonic flux throughout her voice. "Troy… you don't want to do this. We're friends. We're practically family! We can turn this around. You can deactivate that bomb, and we can put this behind us, and-"

"Oh shut up!" Troy backhanded Allie, blackening her eye. "You really think your little mind tricks are going to work on me? I'm the master of mind tricks. Like how I manipulated all of you into fighting each other… playing off of your emotions, making sure the team was never quite functional… you know what I'm talking about. I preyed on Zatina's insecurity, called her out for not being able to control her powers… and I subtly ignited several of the feuds between Jesse and Ethan. I planted the little emotional wedge that kept you and Tommy from getting too close. I made sure Zatina saw when you and Jesse kissed, creating distrust between them. I've been behind the scenes of every little altercation… and you know what? You all made it so damn easy!"

"You're lying!" Allie sobbed.

"Actually, for once, I'm not. You see, Allie… you can be as tough, as smart, as witty as you want… but at the end of the day, you're just another stupid, immature, predictable teenage girl, ruled by her emotions, so high off her hormones that common sense and rationality take a backseat. You have no idea how easy you are to manipulate. Sure, some of you were a little harder… Quinton, for example. He was skeptical of me from the start, and he had quite a lid on his emotions… he was tough. But there's very, very vulnerable weak point in Quinton's defenses… Flo. So during our first battle with Grayven, I made sure Q got hurt _just _badly enough to need medical attention, and just like I predicted, he and Flo hooked up while she patched his wounds. From that point on, he was so enraptured with her that he abandoned his suspicions. I've got say… toying with you all… I felt like a little kid in a candy store! Whose heart should I break next? Who should I start a rivalry between? Who should I turn the team against tonight? It just made me giddy! The perfect little game. It was kind of like chess, if all the pieces were horny, melodramatic idiots."

"I hate you…" Allie spoke in a voice so low that it was barely audible. "You psychopath… I hate you so much."

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" Troy took Allie's hand, and easily broke one of her fingers, inciting another scream. "Sad, isn't it? How helpless you really are, once your stupid, grumpy little boyfriend isn't around to save you."

Suddenly, a batarang sailed through the air at struck Troy in the face, knocking him into Chris's workbench. The batarang curved and soared back around the room, spinning directly into the grip of Tommy Grayson. "For the love of God, Troy… stop talking." Tommy eyed his brother fiercely.

"Hey bro," Troy got to his feet, a scratch now decorating his face. "I was beginning to think you weren't gonna' show."

"Can I waste this punk?" Corey barked, walking up next to Tommy.

"Not until I get to hit him," Sky raced into view.

"Seconded," Quinton chimed in.

"Co-signed," Zatina appeared.

"I just want to hear him scream," Flo added.

"I just want to _make _him scream," Ethan cracked his knuckles.

"I, um… cannot think of a witty remark," Jesse appeared. "But I would also like to hurt him."

"You brought the whole gang," Troy smiled. "Hope you don't mind… I invited a few friends of my own."

The sound of the Apokoliptian fleet roared in the distance, fast approaching. "Hey Tommy," Quinton stepped forward, "How many of Troy's bones do you think we can break before we have to retreat?"

"Hard to say. Let's just shoot for all of them, and see how far we get."

Corey shapeshifted into a horrifying monster, and raced toward Troy. With expert timing, Troy slid underneath Corey's attack, and jammed his sword upwards. The blade sunk into Corey's stomach, bathing the surrounded area in blood. Corey shrieked, and Troy thrust him into the wall. Tommy was charging now, knife drawn. Troy launched his blade, parrying Tommy's strike. As their blades clashed, Troy's superior strength began to win out. Each time their blades met, the resulting shockwave nearly crippled Tommy. _Physically, he's stronger than me. Faster too. And a more skilled fighter. I'm outmatched in every category… except for tech. I'm going to have to make use of my equipment to even the playing field._

As Tommy made this analysis, Corey was already healing from his wound, and prepared to attack Troy from behind. Troy caught sight of this. When Corey lunged, Troy performed a brutal roundhouse kick that blew Corey's lower jaw off! Blood poured from the wound as Corey's teeth shattered and his jaw crumbled apart. His mouth now permanently agape, his tongue hanging limply toward the ground.

Tommy plunged his knife forward, but Troy sidestepped, and Tommy's knife penetrated Corey's arm, wounding him even further. Troy withdrew a small pouch from his belt, filled with a strange powder, and jammed it into the open wound on Corey's stomach… just as Sky was gearing up to fire his heat vision.

Troy ducked, and the heat vision sailed above him, striking the powder that Troy had just stuffed inside of Corey. Suddenly, there was an ominous _woosh _sound.

"What did you do to him?" Tommy screamed.

"That powder was a little something called Thermite. When ignited, it burns at temperatures up to 4990 degrees Celsius. With Corey's vulnerability to fire, it should be an entertaining display.

Sure enough, the thermite ignited inside of Corey's stomach. Corey shrieked in agony as the blaze engulfed him, destroying his body.

"No!" Tommy's rage exploded, and he whirled around, flinging a punch at Troy. Troy grabbed Tommy's fist and clenched, shattering several of the bones in Tommy's body. Troy then twisted, snapping Tommy's wrist and bringing him to his knees.

"Face it, little brother… I'm better than you." Troy delivered a ferocious punch to Tommy's face, breaking his nose. "I'm stronger than you…" Troy punched Tommy in the throat with such force that Tommy began to choke on his own blood. "I'm faster than you…" a roundhouse kick to Tommy's ribs, breaking one and cracking another two. "I'm smarter than you…" a punch to Tommy's spine, causing his legs to give out. "I am better than you!" A kick to Tommy's face, launching him across the room.

Tommy hit the floor heart, bleeding and broken, while Corey slowly burned to death. "Tommy!" Allie shrieked, losing more blood by the minute. She attempted to run to him, but was becoming dizzy now, stumbling. Troy smacked her, dropping her face-flat on the floor.

Troy turned and faced the rest of the team. "Come on… give me a challenge!"

"You asked for it!" Sky screamed, bursting toward Troy in a blaze of fury. Troy dodged Sky's first strike, and lunged his fingers forward, puncturing Sky's eyes. Troy then punched Sky in the head, but even before Sky hit the ground, Jesse and Ethan were both coming his way.

Quickly, Troy stomped on Sky's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Sky involuntarily released all of his breath in a super-strong gust of air, which raised Troy upwards, out of reach of Jesse's strike. Troy grabbed one of the light fixtures attached to the ceiling, and ripped it down, throwing it into the ground. The bulbs shattered, littering the floor with broken glass. As Jesse ran, the glass shards cut his feet to bits, slowing him down and allowing Troy to keep track of his movements. Troy threw a piece of broken glass like a throwing knife. The shard penetrated Jesse's Achilles tendon, and the young speedster suddenly found himself unable to balance.

Jesse crashed violently into the floor, covered in shards of broken glass. Due to the speed he was moving, he slid several feet across the room at high speed, cutting his flesh to bits as he moved through the glass shards, leaving a streak of blood behind him. Jesse, bleeding from every part of his body, started to try and stand.

At the same moment, Ethan reared back to punch Troy. Moving quickly, Troy hooked his foot underneath Jesse's chest, and kicked upwards. This flung Jesse into the air, directly in the path of Ethan's attack! Ethan's fist bolted into Jesse's midriff, and the speedster was catapulted backwards, blood spewing from his mouth. Troy grabbed Jesse's ankle in mid-air, and spun around, flinging Jesse like a rag doll, directly into Ethan. Both Ethan and Jesse hit the wall.

This left Ethan disoriented long enough for Troy to get ahold of his sword, and plunge it deep into Ethan's chest. A blood coated the blade, Troy sneered, "I never liked you, Ethan."

Troy was then hit by a powerful blast, fired by Zatina. The blast rocketed Troy across the room, and send him plummeting straight through the wall. Troy tumbled onto the grass outside, a smoldering hole in his back where the bolt had struck.

Zatina rushed over to Jesse, and cradled the bloodied speedster in her arms. "Oh my God… are you alright?"

"He… he's really, really tough…" Jesse choked.

"I know. I think he's been holding back all this time… he's so strong…" Zatina's hands were shaking. She was terrified. "He's _winning_, Jesse… it's just him against all of us, and he's winning! I don't know what to-"

"Z…" Jesse clutched her hand. "Kick his ass for me."

"With pleasure, baby."

Outside, Troy crawled back onto his feet, looking more angry than hurt. Allie got to her feet, stepped outside, clutching the wound on her arm. "I'm glad we're outside…" she smiled, "Now I finally get to do _this_."

Allie cut loose with a sonic scream, the most powerful shriek she had ever unleashed. The blast hit Troy, and instantly his eardrums exploded, blood pouring down his cheeks. He was blasted backwards, hitting the ground hard. Allie maintained the scream for several seconds, before finally exhausting herself, and nearly fainted.

"Bitch…" Troy growled, sprinting toward her with savage aggression. His Amazonian healing factor was already beginning to take affect; he could feel his ears slowly repairing themselves. He regained some slight ability to hear, just in time for him to notice the sound of a bow string snapping. Troy spun around to see a boxing glove arrow exploding in his face! He was knocked backwards by the impact, and looked up to see Connor Queen.

"Stay away from my sister, dirt bag." Connor knocked another arrow, this one designed to kill. He took aim, but underestimated Troy's reflexes. The moment Connor fired, Troy was ready. He grabbed the arrow out of the air, spun around, and drove it directly into Allie's collar bone! Allie let out a cry of pain, as Troy jammed the arrow into her, right down to the feathers.

"I am so done… letting you hurt me!" Allie sucker-punched Troy in the crotch, causing him to recoil. She doubled back and delivered a kick to his midriff that send him flying. He performed a cartwheel, and flipped back onto his feet, just in front of Connor.

Connor swung the bow at Troy, but again, Troy's reflexes were too fast. He snapped the bow in half, and drove one broken end into Connor's thigh. He then ripped the quiver off of Connor's back, flipped Connor onto the ground, withdrew an explosive arrow from the quiver, and stabbed it into the back of Connor's knee! Connor attempted to pull the arrow out, but was not fast enough… it detonated, blowing his leg apart.

Connor's kneecap flew across the field, leaving a trail of muscle tissue behind it. Connor shrieked, his nearly blown in half, and Troy lifted him up by the hair. "I should just put you out of your misery now, shouldn't I?"

Troy moved to snap Connor's neck, when suddenly, a pulse of magical energy rocketed into his side, blasting him into the ground. Zatina levitated into the open, her eyes glowing, her body radiating with power. She looked to Connor, and cried out, _"Tcurtshocer!"_

In a matter of seconds, Connor's knee began to reconstruct itself, as did his bow. Soon, Connor was good as new. "Whoa…" he muttered.

Zatina then turned her attention to Troy. "You… are… dead."

"Funny you'd mention that," Troy grinned, looking up at the sky. "Because so are you. All of you."

The air was now filled with Apokoliptian ships. A gigantic fleet, and from them, millions of Parademons began to descend!

Zatina gazed at the army approaching her and frowned. "Oh crap…"

…

Quinton knew that he would be useless if he tried to fight Troy physically. So he took a different approach. While Troy had been distracted by the attacks of the team, Quinton into the control center of the ship.

"This ship was modified from an Apokoliptian aircraft…" Quinton muttered, "So it should still have the capability to communicate with them." He went to work, hacking the ship's mainframe, ready to execute his plan…

…

After Tommy left, Mckayla hadn't given up on trying to reason with Alex. She stayed in the infirmary to talk to him. One thing led to another, and suddenly, they were naked in a hospital bed.

"This doesn't change anything," Alex whispers.

"I didn't think so," Mckayla whispered back.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Kio and Prome came running inside. "Ah!" Mckayla pulled up the sheet and covered herself immediately. "What are you two doing in here?"

"Connor told us to find you," Kio said shyly.

"Yeah," Prome interrupted, his tone brash and insistent. "He said he was going to save Allie, and then-"

"Hold on, slow down…" Alex interrupted. "Save Allie from what?"

"Uh, dude… look outside." Kio pointed, and Alex and Mckayla saw a wave of Parademons descending upon the land.

"Ah hell…" Mckayla muttered.

"The end of the world began, and I was having sex. Awesome."

…

Flo charged at Troy, her water-sword extended to its full length, channeling a surge of electricity, but Troy deflected her attacks easily, delivering an onslaught of devastating blows. "When are you going to learn?" He taunted his opponents, "You cannot win!"

Zatina was giving it her all trying to hold back the Parademons, but she had already expended a great deal of magic, and was growing weary.

As Troy kicked Flo across the field, a mace collided with his head, thrown by none other than Kavita Stewart.

Troy stood up, to find himself surrounded. Kavita, Tommy, Allie, Connor, Flo, Sky, Ethan, Jesse and Zatina all circled him. All of them were also wounded, but against such a great number of them, Troy was still skeptical of his odds.

"It's over Troy!" Tommy screamed.

"Over?" Troy broke out laughing, "Look around you! This is only a fraction of Darkseid's invasion force! He's going to kill us all, Tommy. And here you are, wasting your time on some petty vendetta against me."

"You mean they'll kill everyone except you," Tommy growled.

"No, actually, that's not what I meant. I already told Allie… the people I work for, are the people Darkseid _fears_. He wants me out of the way too."

"What are you saying?" Jesse demanded, "That you're _not _the spy?"

"Bullshit!" Tommy grimaced. "He's lying. All he ever does is lie."

"Fine, don't take it from me, brother. Would you believe _her_?" Troy nodded to Kavita. "She knows. She might not remember at the moment, but she knows who Apokolips's spy is. I'll give you a hint… they're standing in this circle, right now."

"Shut up. I am so done with hearing you lie to me," Tommy spat.

"Do you know who designed that bomb in there, Tommy?"

"Does it matter?"

"Our father designed it."

Tommy froze, caught off guard for a moment. "What did you just say?"

"Well, _one _of your fathers. Bruce Wayne. And guess what else? He designed it recently."

"Tommy, don't listen to him. He's trying to confuse you, get inside your head," Connor reasoned.

"I'm trying to enlighten you all," Troy smiled. "This is a war you cannot win. But Apokolips can't win either. There are forces at work here you can barely begin to comprehend, Tommy. My mission was to test you all. I was supposed to manipulate you, put you in the worst situations possible, and see how you reacted."

"To see how much of a threat we posed?" Jesse asked, just to humor him.

"No," Troy argued, "To see if you were worth keeping alive."

"He's making all of this up," Connor pleaded. "He's working with Apokolips, and he's just trying to stall for time until the brunt of that invasion force gets here."

"Believe whatever you like, Tommy. It doesn't really matter. You failed the test anyway. All of you did… accept one. You…" Troy pointed a finger to Jesse.

"Uh… me?" Jesse frowned.

"You impressed my superiors, Jesse. Everyone else here is considered expendable. But _you_… your skill set is valuable."

"Well now we know for sure that he's lying," Ethan piped in.

"Hey! I might have impressed some people!" Jesse argued.

"This is not the time, Jesse…" Tommy sighed. "We're doing exactly what he wants. Falling for his little head games, _again_."

"If you really want to keep up this little dance, feel from to come at me, Tommy. But we both know you can't beat me."

Suddenly, a bright beam of light erupted from the ship, followed by a pulse that knocked everyone off their feet.

"What the hell is that?" Ethan screamed.

"That… is my man Quinton Sage!" Jesse smiled.

The beam of light soared into the atmosphere, and then began to slowly expand, creating an orb of light around the entire fleet of Apokoliptian ships.

Then, in an instant, all of the ships self-destructed! In a blinding, deafening multi-explosion, the fleet detonated, killing the hordes of Parademons inside.

"What the…" Troy backed away, shocked. In an instant, the entire fleet had been wiped out.

And then, Quinton Sage exited Corey's ship, hands placed firmly in his jacket pockets.

"Quinton!" Jesse yelled, "Dude, what did you do?"

"I knew that this ship would still be able to establish simple communication with the rest of the ships in the Apokoliptian fleet. So I hacked into its mainframe, and created a virus that automatically triggers the self-destruct mechanism in these aircraft. Then, I sent out a transmission to all the ships in the fleet. As soon as the crew received the transmission, the virus was uploaded to their ships, and caused detonation."

"Dude…" Jesse grinned, "You _definitely _win King of the Pantry."

Troy was backing away now, caught off guard by this development. Tommy caught sight of this, and smiled. "Never underestimate the ingenuity of my team, Troy. That was your biggest mistake."

"You thought you could put us down easy, just by toying with our emotions…" Allie said.

"But you didn't realize one thing…" Flo continued.

"We're not a team," Sky added.

"We're a family." Tommy took a step forward, "A better family than you ever were… _brother_."

Troy gave a small, defeated smile. "I'm impressed." Suddenly, a bright white light began to radiate from the sky.

"What is that…?" Connor muttered.

"Everyone get back!" Kavita screamed.

Troy pressed a button on a small detonator hooked to his belt. "See you soon, _brother_."

In an instant, the bomb that Troy had planted inside of the ship started to beep rapidly, the light flashing faster by the second. There was a bright white flash, and suddenly, Troy was gone.

"Where the hell did he go?" Tommy looked around frantically.

"He just… disappeared," Allie pointed out.

"Um… guys, bigger problem at the moment!" Jesse screamed, pointing to the flashing bomb.

Suddenly, a voice appeared inside of Tommy's mind. _"Tommy… this is Corey."_

_ "Corey?" _Tommy thought back, _"You're alive!"_

_ "Not for long…"_

_ "What do you-"_

_ "I'm putting you in charge of my team now, Tommy. I know you'll lead them just as well as you lead yours."_

_ "Corey, what are you saying? What's this about?"_

_ "I'm trusting you, Tommy. Trusting you to save the world."_

_ "Corey! What are you-"_

_ "Next time you see Troy, break a bone for me."_

Corey's mind then began to work telekinetically. His body had been completely destroyed by Troy's Thermite attack, but his mind lived on. Using all the strength he had left, Corey telekinetically pulled the ship up off of the ground, raising it into the air. With all his might, Corey heaved the ship out of Earth's atmosphere. The bomb detonated safely, high above the young heroes below. The ship was destroyed… and along with it, Corey Jones.

"Tommy…" Connor spoke in a shaky, uneven voice. "Was… was that what I think it was?"

"Yeah," Tommy dropped his gaze. "Corey."

"So he's… you know…"

"Dead. Yeah. Corey's dead." Tommy looked up, fists clenched. "And I'm going to make Troy pay for it."

A gunshot from inside the Clock Tower awoke everyone from their trance. "A few of the Parademons managed to get inside the Clock Tower," Kavita yelled.

"Kio and Prome are in there!" Connor shouted at the realization.

"Man… I was really hoping I could finally get some sleep," Flo groaned. The team sprinted into the Clock Tower to find it torn apart, ransacked and ruined. Mckayla and Alex were each fighting off a small horde of Parademons who had made it inside before Quinton destroyed the fleet. While most of the team went to work battling them, Connor shouted, "Where are Kio and Prome?"

"West corridor! They took off on their own, I tried to follow, got intercepted," Alex shouted back.

"I'm going to go get them… before it's too late."

"I'll cover you," Allie said, and the two ran toward the west corridor. There, at the end of the hall, Kio and Prome were fighting for their lives. Kio was freezing the Parademons as they came, and Prome was launching fireballs like there was no tomorrow. But the sheer number of Parademons was quickly overwhelming the boys, and they were losing ground every second.

Allie and Connor moved in to help them, but were intercepted by a small group of demons, attacking with energy lances. In their wounded states, Allie and Connor were in no condition to fight them off.

The monsters moved in on Kio and Prome ferociously, murder gleaming in their eyes… and then, in unison, Kio and Prome shrieked… "Leave us alone!"

There was a bright flash, and the temperature in the room increased rapidly. "What just happened?" Connor screamed.

"I don't know… they did _something_! That's for sure!" Allie called back.

The light quickly became blinding, and suddenly, all of the Parademons began to glow as well. They let out a panicked shriek, and then… candy. All of the Parademons turned into candy. Milk duds, jelly beans, gum, chocolate… the monsters simply burst into showers of candy.

"Did… did you see what I just saw happen?" Connor stammered.

"Uh-huh…" Allie nodded.

The light faded, and suddenly, standing in the hallway where just a moment ago, Kio and Prome had been, there was one man… tall, with a bright costume and a flaming head. The being spoke in a voice that was like two people talking simultaneously. He said, "We are one. We are Firestorm."

"Tommy… Quinton… Chris…" Allie called out, "You guys really need to see this…"

**A/N: I promised you big reveals, and there were big reveals! I promised you action, and there was action! I promised you a fast update and… well, that one didn't happen, but by this point, did you really expect it anyway? **

**I'm betting that by now, you faithful readers are thinking you've got all the mysteries solved. Two which I say, WRONG! If you thought there were shocking reveals in this chapter… just wait until you see what I have planned for the next one…**

**Oh, and one more thing… are there a lot of mistakes? Because, with a long chapter like this, I was far too lazy to proofread the whole thing.**


	24. Council of the Phoenix

Chapter Twenty-Four: Council of the Phoenix

Corey's funeral pyre was lit just after sunset. Connor had insisted they cremate him; Corey wouldn't want to be buried in Apokoliptian soil. So what could be salvaged of his body was retrieved, a casket was built from planks of wood from ruined sections of the Clock Tower, and it was set ablaze, burning the remains of the last Martian.

While much of the team gathered around to pay their respects, Tommy had already done so. Everything that needed to be said between he and Corey had already been said, in Corey's last telepathic communication with him… just before his demise. _I trust you Tommy. I trust you to save the world. _Corey, the man who trusted no one and suspected everyone, had placed his trust in Tommy. And the responsibility was crushing him.

So Tommy sat, alone, atop the barely standing tower, and watched the funeral from above. He tried to write in his journal, but kept erasing what he produced. He didn't want to write about Troy, he didn't know what to write about Kio and Prome, and he couldn't write anything about Corey that did the man justice. Finally, he gave up, tucked the pencil into the binding of the notebook, and sat it down next to him. "Hey…" a voice behind him beckoned. Tommy looked back to see Connor Queen, a solemn, weary expression adorning his face. It was jarring, compared his to usual cocksure expression.

Connor was a mess. His shaggy blonde hair was filthy, matted with sweat and blood, and he was decorated in bruises from the beating Troy had given him. In the flicker of the firelight below, a faint glimmer appeared on his cheeks, indicating that he had been crying. Despite Connor's nonchalant disposition toward life, and despite their differences, he really did care about Corey. And his death hit him hard.

"Where's Alex?" Tommy asked.

"That son of a bitch? He left. Mckayla asked him to stay for the funeral; Alex got all high-and-mighty and acted like it wasn't worth his time."

"Alex has a lot of pride. To him, showing any sadness over Corey's death would be a sign of weakness. And he refuses to openly be weak."

"He wasn't always like that, you know… after his sister got killed, he was shaken up, sure… but he wasn't like he is now. He had Mckayla for an anchor. And me, and Corey and Chris… but… we all turned our backs on him, and I think that was when he snapped."

"It wasn't your fault he disobeyed orders and tried to take advantage of you all. Don't beat yourself up for turning back on him."

"I know it wasn't our fault but still… we handled it the wrong way. We should have dealt with it differently. We should never have just pushed him away. I think that was when he lost faith in humanity, you know? When the people he'd put his trust in kicked him the curb… we did that to him."

"He said that Mckayla cheated on him with you? I'm sure that was a factor."

"Once… my biggest regret…" Connor sighed, sitting down next to Tommy. "I was so stupid. I was fifteen… just a horny idiot with no clue what I was doing. Mckayla and Alex were fighting at the time… they fought a lot, their relationship was never perfect by any means… and I talked to her one night, with one thing on my mind, of course… and I got it, and Alex found out, and he never forgave either of us for that. It was after that happened that he started to turn on us. So… maybe that was our fault too."

"Connor, I learned a long time ago that if you blame yourself for other people's actions, you'll never feel anything but guilt in your life."

"Yeah. I guess you're right. You know, Tommy… for the record, you guys are better than us. Corey, Alex, Mckayla, Chris and I… we came first. We were the _first _rebels. But we were kind of terrible at it. None of us ever got along, and even when things went right we had casualties… you and your team have done a way better job than we ever did."

"I'm sorry, but I don't see it. We had a spy right under our noses the whole time, and when we finally caught him, he made a fool of us and practically soloed the whole team. Our actions incited a violent response from Apokolips, and Hub City was bombed, killing virtually all of its inhabitants. But the worst part is… we haven't accomplished anything. We've been fighting all this time, and for what? Apokolips is still just as strong as it ever was. Why do you think Darkseid hasn't pulled out all the stops against us yet? It's because he doesn't need to… we've been completely ineffective against his rule, and he knows it."

"This whole plan to go to Atlantis and free the water supply seems like it would definitely make a dent."

"Yeah… but I don't see how we're going to pull that off now. Corey is dead, Alex won't help us, and Troy is obviously out of the picture… I don't have the recourses right now to make my plan work. We're sitting ducks."

"That sounds a lot like giving up, Tommy. What would Allie do if she heard you talking that way?"

"Kick me in the head and tell me to make it work."

"Exactly," Connor reached over and smacked Tommy in the head. "Make it work."

"No offense, Connor… but why did you come up here? I thought you'd want to be down there, with Mckayla and Chris and Allie."

"Actually… I wanted your advice. On what to do now, you know? Where to go now that Corey's gone."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you always seem to want to do the right thing."

"Connor, I usually have no clue what I'm doing."

"Look… all I know is, Corey trusted you. And Corey never trusted anybody. Clearly, there's a leader in you that's worth following."

"Well… when I find him, I'll let you know."

"You do that, Grayson."

"Oh and… thank you. Thank you for protecting her."

"Allie?"

"Yeah. Troy would have killed her if you hadn't jumped in. I… don't think I could live with myself if something happened to her."

"I wasn't about to let the punk shank my sister," Connor grinned. "But really, I should be thanking you. You've taken good care of her, Tommy."

"Allie can fend for herself pretty damn well. I don't usually have to do much."

"I'm not just talking about on the battlefield. You've taken good care of her through everything. Her mother dying, her capture in The Hole, all of it."

"Yeah… I guess so."

"Just remember," Connor placed his hand on Tommy's shoulder, "You break her heart… I'll break your neck."

"Connor, if I break her heart, _she'll _break my neck."

Connor laughed. "You're a good guy, Thomas."

"Just Tommy."

"Can I ask why being called by your full name is so bothersome to you?"

"Because I'm named after Thomas Wayne. And after Bruce Wayne genetically engineered me to be his perfect little successor… I want as little to do with that name as possible. That's not who I want to be."

"Here's something _I _learned a long time ago, Tommy… when you run from who you are, you tend to miss out on the best parts of yourself." Connor got to his feet and headed back to the stairwell, on his way to revisit Corey's funeral. "Nice talking to you, Grayson."

…

"How are you feeling?" Zatina Blood inquired, approaching Kavita Stewart as she stood in the back of the crowd, watching Corey's funeral pyre burn.

"Out of place," Kavita sighed. "It was really kind of you people to take me in. Especially after what I did…"

"What you did?" Zatina grinned, "From what I heard, you kept Allie alive while she was in The Hole. And then you helped Connor escape Apokolips with that Radion bullet, which may be our only way of beating Darkseid. Kavita, we weren't just being nice taking you in, we owed it to you."

"Thank you," Kavita smiled, staring at the blaze before her. "I didn't really know Corey… but from what I understand, he was kind of a jackass. I'm surprised everyone seems so broken up."

"He wasn't the easiest guy to get along with, I'll admit. But he was still one of us. And he was killed by someone who we _thought _was one of us."

"About that…" Kavita frowned, "What do you think he was talking about? When he said he worked for the people Darkseid fears?"

"I have no idea," Zatina shook her head. "You were closer to Darkseid's inner circle than any of us. Any thoughts?"

"No. Darkseid didn't fear anyone. Not anyone at all. And rightfully so… not only is he himself one of the most powerful beings in the universe, but he has _the _most powerful army in existence at his disposal, not to the mention the most advanced technology that can be found for several galaxies. Darkseid _is _fear, Z. There's no one he was afraid of."

"It's very possible that Troy was lying," Zatina reasoned. "I mean, when _wasn't _he lying to us?"

"That has to be it," Kavita agreed. "Still… I wish I could remember what Granny Goodness's files on all of you said. That information might confirm it."

"You still can't remember?"

"No. Most of my memory is back, but there are parts that are still blacked out."

"Hang on; let me see what I can do…" Zatina raised her hand to Kavita's forehead. "Close your eyes."

Once Kavita's eyes were closed, Zatina went to work. _"Seiromem," _she uttered, and a white light appeared in her eyes. Her hand began to glow as well, and suddenly she was seeing all of Kavita's memories from birth. Scanning quickly through a montage of Kavita's entire life, Zatina saw the horrors that the warrior had endured; the death of her parents, the murder of her brother, her isolation on Apokolips…

Suddenly, a powerful force obstructed Zatina's spell, a sharp pain rocketing into her skull. With a scream, the young sorceress fell to the ground, clutching her skull.

"What is it?" Jesse appeared in an instant, having sprinted over all the way from the other end of the perimeter.

"I don't know!" Kavita cried, "She… she was scanning my memories, trying to help me remember some things, and… and she just suddenly screamed!"

Jesse pulled Zatina up from the ground, helping her stand. "What happened, Z?"

"I think I got hit by a truck…" Zatina groaned, the throbbing pain in her skull beginning to secede. "There's some sort of magical barrier in Kavita's mind. It was a type of magic I don't recognize… it completely canceled out my spell, and stabbed my brain a couple times for good measure."

"Are you sure it was magic, and not some weird Apokoliptian science thing?" Jesse asked.

"Positive," Z nodded.

"But… how did a magical barrier get inside of my mind?" Kavita questioned, highly unnerved.

"I have no idea," Zatina shook her head, "But whoever put it there… _really _does not want us to know what was in those files."

…

Kio and Prome separated shortly after they had destroyed all of the Parademons. Somehow, the two had fused into one being, calling himself Firestorm. Almost immediately after the fusion ended and the two reverted back to their normal forms, they passed out, and had been sleeping ever since. Chris and Quinton, both scientifically curious, had begun investigating this phenomenon. Chris hooked Kio and Prome's sleeping forms to a device he had built to scan their brainwaves and try to determine what had caused the fusion, and how it worked.

"We knew Cadmus created them for _something_…" Chris marveled, "But this is beyond anything I expected."

"What's the brain scan showing?" Quinton asked.

"Something remarkable," Chris stared at the screen, eyes wide. "It appears that Kio and Prome are subconsciously entwined."

"Meaning…?"

"Their minds are connected… I don't think they're aware of it, all of the information is transmitted to a part of the brain that does not affect conscious thought… but information is continuously being shared between their two brains, several times faster than the speed of light. It's like their own personal internet connection, linking them together on a metaphysical level."

"It's like The Theory of Quantum Entanglement," Quinton mused. "If two electrons are created together, they are forever entangled. Whatever effects one electron will immediately affect the other. You could theoretically separate them as far as you wanted; say, the breadth of the universe… and information would still be transmuted between them instantaneously. Kio and Prome are entangled..."

"But how does that explain their transformation into Firestorm?"

"Because they were created together, Chris. They're not individuals… they are two halves of the same being. And when their lives were threatened, it triggered a reaction that caused them merge together, completing that being."

"They were Cadmus's secret weapon… two unassuming children who, when combined, achieve godlike power."

"They aren't the first being to be named Firestorm. Before the invasion, there were actually a couple different incarnations of the hero known as Firestorm… and they all shared a common theme, two beings joined into one."

"Cadmus always was a nostalgic bunch," Chris nodded. "Rather than create something new, they were always trying to improve on the original. Create better heroes, clones superior to their source material… Quinton, just what do you think this Firestorm is capable of?"

"We saw him manipulate matter on a cosmic scale. He easily transmuted those Parademons into whatever he wanted them to be… which proves that unlike the original Firestorm, this one can manipulate organic matter. To them, atoms are just building blocks that can be rearranged on a whim… they can change the entire atomic structure of an object with a thought. Chris… I don't think there is any limit to what this Firestorm might be capable of."

…

After the funeral pyre had burned to cinders, Mckayla collected Corey's ashes. She couldn't find a box, so she poured them inside of one of Corey's favorite things; bullet casings. She'd gathered up all the empty bullet casings she could find, and filled them with Corey's remains.

"What do you plan on doing with those?" Connor asked.

"I don't know. I just… I don't know, ok?"

"Tommy called a meeting. He wants everybody to report to the training room."

"Ok… tell him I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Got it," Connor nodded curtly, and walked off toward the ruins of the Clock Tower.

Inside, everyone was gathered, with the exception of the still sleeping Kio and Prome. Allie, Jesse, Zatina, Quinton, Flo, Kavita, Sky, Connor, Ethan and Chris all stood, waiting for whatever it was Tommy planned to say.

Soon, Tommy appeared, standing before the group with a determined expression. After a moment of anticipated silence, Tommy began to speak. "As you all know, there have been a lot of new developments recently. Alex has refused to help us. Troy has betrayed us. Kio and Prome have more power than we ever suspected. And Corey…" he paused a moment, trying to find the right words. Finally, he said, "They killed one of our own. Corey died saving us all. And his sacrifice will not be in vain. His death will not go unpunished. No more hiding. No more waiting for the fight to come to us. It's time we take a stand, and bring the fight to Apokolips. We're going to strike fast, and hard. As you all know, Corey and I planned to invade Atlantis next week. The operation is being moved forward. We put the plan into action now."

"But how will your plan even work… wasn't Alex an integral part of it?" Quinton mused.

"I'm getting that," Tommy assured him. "You all remember the Hellspear?"

"That big machine that Grodd and the Legion of Doom were going to activate?" Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly. A few months ago, Gorilla Grodd and the Legion of Doom kidnapped Alex. They planned on using him to activate the Hellspear… because the weapon was designed by Lex Luthor, and he designed it with the intent that only a Luthor could use it. Alex's DNA would be required to activate the weapon. Chris, Quinton… do you two think that if we were able to obtain the machine, you would be able to modify it? Make it work for us?"

Chris and Quinton both mused over the thought for a moment. "If the activation program is DNA based, there must be an internal database in which Alex's genome is stored for recognition," Quinton stated.

"If we could get in there, I can't think of any reason why we shouldn't be able to re-code the machine to work for us," Chris nodded. "Unless of course Luthor built some serious security measures into the machine's internal computer."

"That won't be a problem for me," Quinton interjected.

"Yeah, Q's got some mad hacking skills," Jesse chimed in.

"Enough to get past a security program that may have been designed by Lex Luthor?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Dude, just yesterday, while we were getting smacked around by Troy, Quinton here created a virus that destroyed an entire fleet of Apokoliptian ships. I'm pretty sure a few firewalls won't be a problem for him," Jesse reasoned.

"It's true," Quinton nodded. "My skills are indeed mad."

"Ok then," Chris looked to Tommy. "Then the answer is yes, if we could gain access to the Hellspear, Quinton and I could make it work without needing Alex."

"Good," Tommy continued, "Then on to the plan. Once the Hellspear is operational, we can move on to Phase 2… freeing the water. Like it or not, we aren't strong enough to defeat Apokolips on our own. But if we were able to gain the support of humankind… get people to believe in us… then suddenly, we have an army at our disposal. So, in order to get the public on our side, we will use the Hellspear to destroy the Water Control Center in Atlantis, freeing the water supply to the public. Once Apokolips no longer controls the water, it will be easier for us to get the public on our side. Once we have their support, we can build an army."

"How will we arm them?" Mckayla questioned. "What good is an army of humans who can't defend themselves?"

"That's where the Hellspear comes into play yet again. It can create a Boom Tube to any location… we're not using the Hellspear as a weapon; we're using it as a method of transportation."

"Transportation to where, exactly?" Connor asked.

"Apokolips has three moons. Kaos, Hel and Arrmaggedon. Each of these moon serves a distinct purpose; Hel is a place where the lowliest of peasants on Apokolips are sent and forced into slave labor. Arrmaggedon is the largest of the moons, but the temperatures there are unlivable even by Apokoliptian standards. One side of Arrmaggedon is constantly burning; the other is permanently iced over. Then, there is Kaos… the smallest of Apokolips' moons. Kaos is a weapons factory. Its where the majority of Apokolips' arms are produced."

"And you want us to go there?" Jesse frowned.

"After we get the Hellspear, yes. But we will face very little opposition there… because we're going to dupe them. We'll use the Hellspear to blast Arrmaggedon. Due to the moon's incredible mass, the blast will not destroy it… it will, however, throw it out of orbit. Arrmaggedon will embark on a collision course with Apokolips. Darkseid will channel all of his forces into stopping the impact, and during that window of time, we will use the Hellspear to open a portal to Kaos, where we will infiltrate the weapon's plant, and steal as much equipment as we can. After we go to Atlantis and free the water supply, we'll be able to equip our new army with Apokoliptian weaponry. We'll be playing on even ground then."

"Tommy…" Allie grinned, "You realize this entire plan is batshit insane, right?"

"Absolutely," Tommy smiled back. "Keep in mind; none of you are under any obligation to follow me. I've told you the plan… you all know what's at stake. If you do not wish to be involved, speak now."

A brief silence fell over the team, each one thinking. It was Allie who spoke up first. "Tommy, following you has led me into this whole mess… and it's been the single greatest experience of my life. Almost dying every four seconds is way more fun than rotting away in a musty old cave… so, no matter what happens… I'll follow you. I'm in."

"Same here," Quinton nodded.

"Those bastards killed Corey," Connor stepped forward. "Hell yeah I'm in."

"Same here," Mckayla nodded.

"Ditto," Chris agreed.

"Ah, what the Hell… it's not like my life's going to get any better if I back out," Jesse shrugged. "I'm in."

"Same here," Zatina took Jesse's hand, and the two exchanged a knowing glance.

"All logic and reason is telling me to back out… but where have logic and reason ever gotten me?" Flo smiled, "I'm game."

"Hell. Yeah." Ethan nodded.

"After what they did to me?" Kavita cracked her knuckles, "I would be insulted if I weren't involved in this. No way am I backing down now."

"Do you really even have to ask?" Sky laughed, "Where would I go if I wasn't following you, Tommy? I don't _know _anybody else… you guys are my family. The way I see it, we're pretty much bound to die… but you can die alone, or you can die together, right?"

"Couldn't have said it better, buddy," Jesse agreed.

"A-freakin-men," Allie agreed.

"Let me ask Tommy…" Connor smiled, "Did you _really _think you were gonna' get rid of any of us? We're in this for the long haul."

"It's settled then," Tommy stepped forward. "We're taking the fight to them. Together."

"What are we going to call ourselves?" Zatina asked, "I think it's about time we had a team name."

"The Justice League seems like the obvious choice," Quinton suggested.

"Q, you can't even decide what to call yourself. You have no business naming a team," Flo laughed.

"Besides… we aren't our parents," Tommy interjected. "The Justice League died with them. We aren't going to follow in those footsteps."

"I got it!" Jesse jumped, a bright look in his eyes, "The Avengers!"

"Avengers…?" Ethan frowned, "What are we supposed to be avenging? Corey? Our parents? The Earth in general? That name is a bit vague."

"Plus it's just plain stupid," Quinton scoffed.

"It is not!" Jesse protested, "I think it's a marvelous name!"

"It's not good Jesse," Sky shook his head. "It's… really not good."

"Kinda' sucks," Allie agreed.

"Well fine then," Jesse scowled, folding his arms.

"I thought it was good Jesse," Zatina offered with a smile.

"Really?"

"…No."

"_Thanks_, babe."

"We could go with, like… the Teen Titans?" Sky suggested.

"Nobody would take us seriously if we called ourselves that," Ethan argued. "And Tommy's right. It should be a name that hasn't been used before. Something new to rise from the flames of what Apokolips destroyed."

"Rise from the ashes… calls to mind a Phoenix mythology," Quinton mused.

"There are _no _good team names to made from Phoenix," Jesse argued. "Phoenix Force? We'd just be a laughing stock. Phoenix League? We'd sound like a baseball team!"

"But I like the mythology aspect," Tommy thought for a moment, and then smiled. "Darkseid is a New God… he considers himself _the _God, right?"

"Without question," Kavita responded.

"In Greek mythology, who had the power to oppose the gods?"

"The Titans," Quinton answered immediately.

"Well then…" Tommy grinned, "We're the New Titans."

…

In the abysmal ruins of what had once been Central City, violence ran rampant as rioters broke out. Darkseid had sent troops to begin massacring humans, hoping that the bloodshed would draw out the rebels. Their first target was Central City. Citizens screamed, running in terror as Parademons filled the skies, butchering them dozens at a time. Corpses lined the streets; children, women, the elderly… the Parademon hordes killed indiscriminately.

Structures toppled, fires engulfed the landscape and the streets ran red with rivers of blood. Casualties were already numbering in the thousands, and Darkseid was just getting started. Looking upon the chaos with a sinister gleam in his eye, Darkseid turned to Granny Goodness and said, "Prepare the transmission."

**...**

Back at the base, the team was preparing to move out, hoping to locate the Hellspear without any struggle. The Aquaship had repaired itself of all damage now, and Flo sat ready to pilot. However, before the ship could get off the ground, a brilliant light filled the sky… and suddenly, a holographic image of Darkseid appeared, towering over the landscape. Hands folded behind his back, Darkseid stood with start regality. "This message is being broadcast over all the Earth," he announced. "Thomas Grayson, Alison Queen, Quinton Sage, Jesse West, Floriala Curry, Zatina Blood, Ethan Peirce, Sky Kent, Chris Magnus, Connor Queen, Mckayla Saunders and Kavita Stewart. If you are foolish enough to still be hiding on this wretched, miserable planet, as I am certain you are, then you see this message. And I bring with it an ultimatum."

Suddenly, the scene changed, the holograph now showing the bloodshed in Central City. The team was shown images of thousands of people being brutally slaughtered at the hands of Darkseid's minions, their bloodied, mutilated bodies thrown into the streets to pile upon. And the Parademons just kept killing, slaying any humans they could find as the terrified masses of people ran frantically to escape.

"Oh my God…" Allie's eyes opened wide. "Tommy… they're… they're killing so many people…"

"I know," Tommy muttered in a voice so low it was barely audible.

Soon, Darkseid's image returned, and continued to speak. "As you have seen, my forces are exterminating humanity at this very moment. If you choose to remain in hiding, we will continue to slaughter them. If you turn yourselves in, their pitiful lives shall be spared. Those are your only options. Turn yourself in and face punishment… or we will continue to bring lambs to the slaughter. Just remember that your _noble _little cause carries no meaning… when there are no longer any lives to protect."

The transmission ended, leaving everyone in stunned silence. Sky breathed a deep sigh and said, "So what do we do now? We can't just let them keep butchering human beings."

"I…" Tommy froze. _Damn it Tommy, make a decision! Be a leader! _He thought to himself, nervousness enveloping him. "I don't know."

"We need to give ourselves up," Flo dropped her gaze.

"What?" Quinton shot her a glare that was uncharacteristically fierce. "How can you say that?"

"Quinton, if there are no more people to save, we have no reason to keep running. Darkseid isn't going to stop killing until he has us. We can save more people by giving ourselves up now."

"And throw away everything we've worked for?" Quinton shook his head, "I refuse."

"Besides, do you really think Darkseid is going to stop if we give ourselves in?" Kavita interjected, "He won't stop until he has absolute power again. Back when I was at Granny's right hand, I heard them talking… it's not just here. By now, the whole world has Darkseid won't tolerate that. He's going to continue to massacre as many as he needs to until there's no more hope."

"Kavita's right," Tommy stepped forward. "We need to move into high gear. This slaughter started it Central City, right? Half of us will go there, save as many people as possible, and try to focus Apokolips' invasion force to one area as much as possible. If we can't stop their assault, we can at least localize it. The other half of us go back to the island where Grodd had the Hellspear."

"How will we transport it?" Chris asked, "If only half of us are going, there's no way we can dismantle the Hellspear quickly enough."

"Leave that to me," Zatina gave a confident smile. "I have a little something in mind."

"How are we dividing up the teams?" Quinton asked.

"Alpha team will retrieve the Hellspear. Beta team will go to Central. There's a good chance Apokolips has set up security at the island… so I'll lead Alpha, there's a high risk factor… unknown danger, and I'm not letting any of my team walk into a trap without me," Tommy announced. "So that leaves the question… who will lead Beta?"

"I'll do it," Jesse raised his hand.

"No," everyone said in unison.

"I'll do it," Allie offered.

"You sure?" Tommy asked.

"I'm sick of just getting beaten up," Allie smiled, "I want to lead the action this time."

"I'll let you pick your team. I'll take whoever's left," Tommy offered.

"Ok…" Allie started, "There are going to be fires. I'll need Flo by my side, definitely. Sky's x-ray vision and super hearing will help find people trapped under rubble, plus his super strength will definitely come in handy. Jesse can get in and out of danger zones fast. Mckayla would be useful for dealing with rioters. And… Quinton, because he always winds up being useful one way or another."

"Ok…" Tommy nodded, "So I have Connor, Chris, Kavita, Zatina, and Ethan. Obviously, Flo is the only one who can pilot the Aquaship… so how is my team getting to the island?"

"I can take care of that," Chris chimed in. "Just leave Alpha team's transportation to me."

"Beta team will head out now. No sense in wasting time," Allie reasoned.

"Alright," Tommy agreed. "Hey, Allie…"

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to give you this," Tommy withdrew the photograph of Dinah that he had found in the Clock Tower basement, with the note from Huntress written on the back. "I thought you might like to have another picture of your mom."

"Thanks Tommy," Allie stared at the photograph, and then handed it back to him.

"Why are you-"

"I know she was important to you too, Tommy. I don't need everything that's left of her."

Beta team began to board the Aquaship. As Jesse started to follow, he caught sight of Zatina and stopped, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Hey… you seemed pretty confident about being able to move the Hellspear…"

"I am confident," Zatina smiled.

"It just sounds like some pretty high-caliber magic. You're sure you can pull it off?"

"It'll be fine Jesse. I'm getting better with my powers by the day. I just needed an anchor to help me control them… and I found one. One with red hair and green eyes."

"And phenomenally large genitalia," Jesse added.

"I'm _sure_…" Zatina rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'm more worried about you. You're charging head first into the site of an ongoing genocide."

"Hey, it's not the stupidest thing I've ever done."

"Just don't die, ok?"

"Don't worry. You're not getting rid of me this easily."

"If only I could be so lucky."

"You stay alive too, 'kay?"

"Promise."

Jesse kissed her. "Gotta' flash," he smiled, and then raced off to join Allie and the rest of Beta team.

Allie, Flo, Jesse, Quinton, Mckayla and Sky and boarded The Aquaship. Flo took the pilot's seat, and soon the Aquaship was ascending into the air, disappearing into the clouds.

…

Tommy, Connor, Kavita, Zatina and Ethan followed Chris to a field far west of the Clock Tower. "How are we getting to the island, exactly?" Ethan questioned.

"I told you, I have that covered." Chris spoke with charming confidence, and pressed a button on his watch. Suddenly, a large object began to materialize; previously shielded by some form of invisible cloak, some form of jet plane came into view.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Zatina gaped.

"I've been building it," Chris shrugged.

"You built a fucking plane?" Connor shouted, "When exactly did you find time for that?"

"What do you think I do when I'm alone all day?"

"Jesse suspects vigorous masturbation," Zatina said, taking a step forward.

"Coming from the girlfriend of the human vibrator…" Chris rolled his eyes, and pressed another button his watch, causing the hangar door to open. The team entered, finding an elaborately decorated interior, complete with a flat screen TV and bean bag tears.

"Where do you get supplies for this?" Kavita inquired.

"Corey had me go scavenging for supplies a lot. I was supposed to be looking for food and tools for survival, but occasionally if I found something else I liked, I added it to my personal stash. Most of that went into this plane."

"Ok…" Connor smiled, "You are officially a badass."

"I think this baby needs a name," Zatina announced. "What do we call this thing?"

"I actually got some inspiration for that… from Ethan," Chris said.

"How did I inspire you?" Ethan asked.

"Earlier, when you said we were 'rising from the ashes' of the fallen. It gave me the idea…" Chris activated the plane, and immediately it began to rise off the ground, miraculously hovering. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're riding The Phoenix."

…

The Aquaship soared at full speed towards Central City. "This is insane," Mckayla shook her head. "We're flying right into a mass murder."

"What are we supposed to do? Sit by and let it happen?" Sky argued.

"All I'm saying is, we should have some sort of a plan. I don't understand why we're just flying blindly into this mess."

"I do have a plan," Allie interjected.

"Care to enlighten us?"

"Look… I'm not that good of a leader. I'm no Tommy, or Corey… but I offered to lead this mission, and none of you are dying. That's the plan," she said firmly.

"Brilliant," Mckayla rolled her eyes. "You realize the only reason Tommy actually let you lead this mission is because he's infatuated with you, right? We're all going to get killed because of a stupid crush."

"Did you not listen to what I just said?"

"I just can't believe you expect to charge into this and actually survive."

"I'm not stupid, ok?"

"Could've fooled me…"

"Hey!" Quinton interrupted, "Are you guys kidding me right now? This is exactly the kind of juvenile bullshit that Troy used to keep us down. I thought we were all past that now? If you want to get catty, do it some time when our lives aren't at stake."

"Seriously," Jesse added, "And do it naked. In oil."

"Shut up Jesse," Allie and Mckayla said in unison.

"Quinton's right…" Allie sighed, "This is stupid. We're here bitching at each other, and people are getting slaughtered."

"Sorry," Mckayla agreed.

Jesse pulled Quinton toward the back of the ship. "Dude, when did you become so confident? You just told off Allie and Mckayla!"

"I'm just sick of people letting their emotions get the best of them," Q sighed. "Maybe if I hadn't been so caught up in things with Flo, I would have seen Troy for what I was. I might have prevented Corey's death. But I-"

"Q, don't you dare say what I think you're getting ready to say," Jesse glared at him sternly. "You carry around a notebook filled with detailed drawings of Flo. She's more than just a distraction. You two are great together. Weird… but great."

"I don't know… I'm pretty sure we had a fight a couple of days ago… I don't know what it was. We haven't really been talking, I-"

"Yeah, yeah… Zatina told me all about it. Flo's just scared, man. You need to let her know that you aren't anywhere. Make sure she knows its gonna' work. You told me a while ago that you think you love her… have you told _her _that?"

"…No."

"Let me tell you a little story, Quinton…" Jesse began, "Once upon a time, there was a man. We'll call him Philip, because his real name is too ethnic. Philip loved a woman who we'll call Jane. Philiip was socially awkward and never actually talked to Jane, he just watched her from afar. And yes, it was just as creepy as it sounds. But despite the strength of his passions, Philip never told Jane than he loved her. Jane went on to marry a tile maker with a large penis. And Philip died. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"No. Not at all, you lunatic."

"Come on, you totally got that moral!"

"I need to tell Flo I love her… or I'll die and she'll marry a well-endowed tile maker?"

"Exactly!"

"I stand by what I said. You are a raving lunatic."

Suddenly, Flo's voice came on over the intercom. "We're approaching Central City. Prepare yourselves… it isn't pretty."

"Alright," Allie stood up, doing her best to perpetuate a sense of authority. "Suit up."

Everyone activated the Atlantean armor that Flo had provided them with. Their bodies were emblazened in a radiant blue glow, and when it faded, they wore costumes designed to match their personality and abilities. Once they were suited up, Jesse lookedto Mckayla, who simply wore her body armor per usual. "You don't want to look pretty like the rest of us?"

"I'm not much for flashy costumes," she replied.

"Well mine is freakin' awesome!" Sky exclaimed, wearing a blue bodysuit, adorned with a yellow "S" shield akin to the one worn by Superman. "Sucks that I didn't get a cape though."

"What purpose could a cape possibly serve?" Quinton asked.

"Making me look mysterious and sexy."

"Sky, you're wearing a blue unitard with yellow piping. A cape is not going to add sex appeal to that." Jesse approached the hangar door of the Aquaship as it opened, and looked to Allie. "So what's the plan?"

"Save as many people as we can, and wait for Tommy to signal us and say they got the Hellspear."

"Sounds simple," Sky acknowledged.

"But it never is," Quinton sighed.

One by one, the team leapt out the hangar door as it opened, diving straight into the chaos below.

…

The Phoenix approached the island quickly. The same island where the team had saved Alex Luthor from the Legion of Doom a few months prior. The same island where the Hellspear stood, possibly the most powerful weapon ever built by human hands… intended to be used against Apokolips, but its designer met his end before the device could ever see its purpose fulfilled.

Chris brought the Phoenix down, landing it outside the Legion of Doom fortress located in the swamp toward the center of the island. As the hangar door opened, Tommy, Ethan, Connor, Kavita, Zatina and Chris exited, all preparing for combat.

"It's unlikely the commotion we caused last time we were here went unnoticed," Tommy announced, "Apokolips has likely prepared the area for our return. There's no telling what we'll find behind that door. Be ready."

Tommy withdrew his knife, Connor readied his bow, Chris morphed into his metal form, Zatina powered up her magic, Kavita drew her sword, and Ethan's eyes surged with power. "How do you think we should approach this?" Kavita questioned, looking to Tommy for leadership.

"Loudly. People are dying; we don't have time to be subtle."

"Good…" Ethan stepped forward, "Loud is my specialty." Ethan cracked his neck, reared back and delivered a might punch into the wall of the fortress, collapsing the entire left side and sending shards of metal and concrete flying. The team burst in through the haze of smoke created upon impact. "Knock, knock!"

Silence. The lair was empty. Dust caked the landscape, complimented by an abundance of cobwebs. A strong musty smell permeated the atmosphere, so thick that breathing became a chore. "Tommy… nobody has touched this place in a long time," Zatina stated.

"No kidding," Connor said, "These cobwebs have cobwebs."

"Something's not right…" Tommy muttered, "Kavita, you said Apokolips knew about this place, right?"

"Yeah. You guys weren't exactly subtle last time you were here. Less than a day after you left, Darkseid sent forces here to tear this place apart."

"The only weapon on Earth that could possibly threaten Apokolips is here. Darkseid _must _have known we'd come back for it… so why didn't he prepare?"

"Because the weapon isn't here," Ethan said grimly.

"What? How can you-"

"I've been able to sense energy lately, ever since I became a New God. The Hellspear had a massive power core… if it was here, I'd be sensing it."

"He's right," Connor called, having just returned from checking all the rooms. "There's nothing in here but dust and spiders. Lot and lots of spiders."

"That's really bad…" Tommy groaned. "Because if the Hellspear isn't here… that means Darkseid has it."

…

A small child ran quickly through the streets, tears streaming down his face. His mother had just been killed by a blast from an Apokoliptian drone. Just before the blast hit, she had screamed for him to run. So he ran. He ran as fast as he could, as the carnage and mayhem unfolded around him.

Suddenly, a blast struck a building to the left of him, the shockwave knocking the child down. With a menacing rumble, the top half of the building began to collapse, falling down toward the boy. The boy closed his eyes and braced for impact. _Crack!_

The boy kept his eyes closed, questioning for a moment whether or not he was still alive. Suddenly, a bead of sweat dripped onto his nose. The boy opened his eyes to see a tall, muscular man standing above him, holding the building up with his bare hands. His shaggy blonde hair blew in the wind, revealing sparkling blue eyes. He wore a dark blue bodysuit with yellow piping, and a yellow S shield. "Hey," the man said with a friendly smile.

"H- Hi…" the boy stammered. "Are… are you Superman?"

"I wish," the man laughed, "You see a cape?"

"Nope. So… who are you?"

"I'm just Sky."

"Oh, cool."

"Hey kid…"

"Yeah?"

"This building is really heavy… you mind, you know… moving out of the way?"

"Oh, yeah. Sure."

The boy scampered out of the path of the falling building, and the moment the area was clear, Sky activated the flight ring Jesse had given to him, and rocketed himself in the air, carrying the majority of the building with him.

From a distance, Sky spied an Apokoliptian airship, and threw the building with all his might. The building crashed into the lower quadrant of the airship, resulting in a ground-shaking collision. The airship burst into flames and crashed into the bloodied pavement below.

Sky stared at the flight ring with a bright smile. "This thing is awesome!"

In another part of the city, Allie Queen fired off an arrow and struck a Parademon in the throat, drawing a fountain of blood. The creature collapsed into a pile on the ground, and Allie prepared another shot. She was keeping count in her mind; _That's around fifty-two that I've killed… and it hasn't made a dent. Darkseid unleashed one hell of an invasion force this time around._

A horde of six Parademons caught sight of Allie and flew toward her. Allie fired an arrow that caught one of them in the shoulder. The tip of the arrow then began to blink rapidly, and exploded, killing three more. One of them reached her, flinging out its clawed hand viciously. Allie dodged the creature's claws, grabbed ahold of its wrist and snapped it over her shoulder. She then spun around and flung the creature back into yet another Parademon, knocking both out of spiraling through the air. Allie fired an arrow that impaled them both simultaneously.

The final Parademon swept around from the back and fired a burst of energy from its lance. The blast hit the ground near Allie's feet and launched her across the pavement. Allie tumbled down the road, and before she could wobble to her feet, the creature took aim again.

Suddenly, a hail of bullets exploded from behind Allie and tore into the Parademon. The bullets ripped the creature to shreds, and it fell dead in a pool of blood. Allie turned to see Mckayla standing behind her, a pistol in each hand.

"Thanks," Allie nodded.

"No problem," Mckayla replied, spinning to roundhouse kick a Parademon that had tried to sneak up on her. "God, these things just don't quit!"

"No kidding," Allie jumped up, planted her feet on a Parademon's shoulders, and stabbed an arrow into the top of its head, driving the point down out of its jaw. The creature began to tumble through the air, and Allie grabbed its lance. She stabbed it into the ground, spun around on it and delivered a fierce kick to a second Parademon, snapping its neck. Allie pulled the lance up from the ground, stabbed a third Parademon, and then fired an energy blast from its tip that incinerated a fourth behind it.

"Not bad," Mckayla congratulated, continuing to shoot enemies down.

"I learned from my mom," Allie said, shooting an arrow into an oncoming drone, "I never told her this… but I surpassed her when I was about twelve. I was always holding back when I sparred with her. It made her happy to think she was the best fighter around… I didn't have the heart to beat her."

"You know what I find interesting about you, Allie?" Mckayla flipped upwards and bashed two Parademon's heads together, splitting their skulls. "With most people in our situation, compassion is a weakness. It hinders us, keeping us from reaching our full potential on the battlefield…" Mckayla snapped the neck on an incoming Parademon, and then turned to face Allie, "But with you… compassion is your greatest strength."

"There is no universal weakness, Mckayla." Allie faced the other girl, "We each have something unique that makes us strong. Your willpower, Quinton's brain, Sky's optimism, Jesse's ability to laugh at the world… each of us finds strength in our own place. Those soft, compassionate people who you look down on for being weak… they aren't weak, Mckayla. They're just strong in a different way."

"You remember earlier, when you told me you weren't stupid?" Mckayla grinned, "Well Allie… you were damn right."

"Thanks. Now cover your ears," Allie stepped in front of Mckayla and unleashed a powerful sonic scream onto the approaching horde of enemies. The scream collapsed structures around them, the drones exploded and the Parademon's collapsed. Then, Allie tried something new. She manipulated the focus of her scream, concentrating all of the sonic energy into a ball. She then launched this ball of concentrated power into the skies above. It detonated, unleashing an omni-directional sonic explosion that destroyed a dozen Apokoliptian ships, and damaged the instruments on hundreds more!

"Whoa…" Allie nearly collapsed, and Mckayla caught her. "I did not think that was going to work."

"I'm glad it did," Mckayla helped Allie stand; "Any chance you can do it again?"

"Maybe after a nap."

…

On the lower east side of the city, Jesse, Flo and Sky mowed through hordes of enemies. Flo, with her water swords drawn, sliced through a pack of blood lusted Parademons. Sky took the fight to the air, pummeling the flying Parademons and drones with a combination of fists at close range and heat vision at long range. Jesse unleashed a flurry of high-speed strikes onto any enemies who he came across, but dedicated the bulk of his time to pulling civilians out of danger zones.

A piece of debris fell from a burning building, and began to fall toward a woman on the street. Jesse quickly raced over and snatched her out of harm's way, the rubble crashing into the ground behind them. The woman was weeping, and cried out, "There are still people inside the building!"

"Alright, I'll see to it they get out alive," Jesse assured her.

"Who are you…?"

"I'm Jes- uh… I'm The Flash," Jesse grinned, and then zoomed over to his friends. He got Flo and Sky's attention, and pointed at the burning building. "People inside. Need help."

The metal doorway into the building had melted into the doorframe, making it immovable. Sky kicked the door with incredible force, blowing it out of the wall and creating an entryway. The three ran inside, finding the room engulfed in blazes. The smoke in the room was deathly thick, suffocating them, and the sheer heat inside the complex was unbearable.

"Jesse," Flo coughed, "Smoke!"

"On it," Jesse hacked, and began rotating himself at super speed, creating a vortex that sucked the smoke into a pillar around him, clearing the majority of the room. Sky activated his x-ray vision and began to scan the building, looking for any signs of people trapped within the blaze.

"Anything?" Flo asked.

"There are about seven people, all on the upper floors. We don't have much time."

The stairs had long since collapsed, so Sky picked up Flo in his arms and activated the flight ring, flying her up the burning stairwell into the second floor, where screams immediately filled her ears through the inferno. Flo used her hydrokinesis and withdrew the water from her canteen, and started using it to wet the blaze, trying to quell the fire as best as she could.

Jesse blurred into view, coughing. "This whole building is about to collapse!" He warned.

Sky used his x-ray vision to check the building's foundation, confirming Jesse's suspicions. "We've got maybe two minutes to get these people out of here!"

"Sky, get outside," Jesse ordered, "I'll toss the people to you, you fly them to safety. Flo, keep these fires down as much as you can, try and clear a path where I need it."

Following Jesse's orders, Sky made his way outside, hovering in the air near the window. Flo continued to use her water to battle the blaze. Jesse began to race through the building, grabbing any civilians he could find. Holding a woman in his arms, he ran to the window and yelled, "Sky! Catch!" He tossed the woman, and Sky grabbed her, flying her to safety while Jesse ran and grabbed someone else. This system continued, until there was only one person left; a little girl on the top floor. The blazes had risen high enough that Jesse could not safely move through. "Flo, I need some help here!"

Flo unleashed a torrent of water onto the room, bringing the fire down as much as she could, and Jesse sprinted across the room, grabbing the little girl up in his arms. He then prepared to toss her to Sky, when the floor collapsed beneath his feet!

Jesse began to fall, clutching the girl tightly to his chest. "Hang on!" He screamed over the roar of the blaze around them. Jesse turned to make sure he landed on his back, shielding the girl from the impact as much as he could. Each floor they landed on caved in under their impact, sending waves of pain through Jesse's body. Finally, he crashed into the basement floor.

Jesse could feel bone breaking, and a wave of agony engulfed him. "Are you ok?" He asked the girl.

"Think so…" she said weakly.

Jesse tried to stand, but found that he could not. His leg was definitely broken. Fire closed in on them rapidly. Flo hit the ground soon after, but unlike Jesse she landed on her feet. "This place is coming down!" She shouted.

"No kidding," Jesse yelled back, pulling the girl out of the path of a falling piece of debris. The fires lashed toward them, growing by the second. "Any chance you could, you know, put this out?"

"I lost my canteen when the floor collapsed…"

"Can't you use the moisture in the air?"

"Jesse, there is no moisture in this air!"

Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted through the flame, "Cover your faces and get down!"

Jesse, Flo and the girl all did as instructed. A blue-tinted mist shrouded the area around them, and suddenly the fires died, the floor freezing over. Within seconds the room was a glistening cascade of ice, and the fires had been extinguished.

Jesse looked up to see Quinton Sage, holding some sort of makeshift fire extinguisher. "Q? What the hell did you just do?"

"I snuck aboard one of the Apokoliptian ships to see how they transported so many Parademons. Turns out, the Parademons are frozen in pods with some sort of cryogenic compound similar to liquid nitrogen. I stole a tank of said compound, attached a garden hose to it, and created my own little freeze ray."

"Quinton, you are more awesome than I can describe," Flo breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him.

"As much as I enjoy this, I must remind you that this building is still in danger of collapse. It would be wise of us to move."

The three quickly scrambled out of the building, Jesse carrying the little girl. He dropped her off and told her to run out of city limits. She complied, taking off toward safety. A horde of Parademons caught sight of the heroes, and flew toward them. Quinton raised his hose and sprayed a haze of mist toward the horde, icing them over. Jesse raced in at high speed and punched one, shattering its body into hundreds of shards.

Flo drove her sword into a Parademon's chest, killing it swiftly. She then morphed her water sword into a large hammer, and bashed a second demon out of the air. Then, she sprayed a fountain of water onto the remaining three and channeled a burst of electricity through it, zapping the Parademons. The monsters fell to the ground in a smoldering heap.

"We can't keep this up," Quinton said. "They're just going to keep coming."

"I don't get it… what's taking Tommy so long? They should have been able to get their hands on the Hellspear by now," Jesse muttered.

"Maybe they ran into trouble?" Flo suggested.

"Of course they ran into trouble," Quinton frowned, "When _don't _we run into trouble?"

…

Alex Luthor wasn't much for mourning. He preferred to simply put distracting things out of his mind, and focus all his energy on the goal; revenge. So why couldn't he put Corey's death out of his mind?

Alex had gone back to the place where he first met Corey Jones. The ruins of what used to be an Apokoliptian weapons cache. Corey and Alex had both broken in on the same night, looking to steal the same weapon. When their paths crossed, a dispute broke out between them. Of course, this attracted the attention of the guards, and the two had wound up having to escape together. It was then that became friends. They formed the first rebellion, and began breaking people out of prison camps to join their team. Soon they'd garnered Chris Magnus, Connor Queen and Mckayla Saunders, as well as about a hundred people willing to join their cause. Most of them were dead now.

And now, Corey was dead too.

"Damn it Corey…" Alex muttered, rain pouring over him. "You paranoid, militaristic jackass. Why in God's name do I miss you?"

Alex stood in silence for a long moment, allowing the memories to wash over him, allowing the rhythmic tapping of the rain to induce a euphoric trance. But the warm memories soon subsided, leaving him again with the crippling pain of absence. "Funny… I haven't missed anyone since Alexia died…" Alex turned and looked up to the moon. "Looks like now I have two people to avenge."

…

Kio and Prome woke up almost simultaneously, finding the Clock Tower empty. "Hey!" Prome shouted, "Where did everybody go?"

"I'd rather know what happened to us," Kio clutched his scalp. "You have a headache too?"

"Yeah," Prome nodded. "We must have gotten hurt in the fight."

"And they just left us here? That sucks!"

"That's not fair at all," Prome hopped off the bed, onto his feet. "I say we go find some Parademons and kick Apokoliptian butt!"

"Yeah, that'll teach them! How dare they leave us here?" Kio hopped down as well.

"We don't need anybody else; we're the toughest kids ever!" Prome flexed his nonexistent bicep. "Let's go find some action!"

…

On Apokolips, Darkseid watched several monitors, viewing the fight on Earth. "I can't decide whether to admire their determination or belittle their stupidity," Darkseid said. "They must know that they are fighting a battle they cannot possibly win."

"They are creating quite a dent in our forces in Central City, Lord Darkseid," Desaad announced. "How do you suggest we dispose of them?"

"I have given them more than enough time to surrender. It is clear that they wish to die fighting. Deploy Brimstone to Central City. The heroes there should prove little challenge."

"What of the six on the island from which we confiscated the Hellspear?" Desaad asked, "What shall be done with them?"

Darkseid gave a menacing grin. "Contact our spy. Tell her it is time to activate Operation GodSword."

…

Tommy, Connor, Kavita, Chris, Zatina and Ethan were making their way back to the Phoenix, a dismal atmosphere encompassing them. "If Darkseid has the Hellspear, why hasn't he used it yet?" Zatina asked.

"Because he doesn't want to destroy the Earth. It's too much of a prize to him for that… he just wants to destroy _us_," Kavita answered.

"Darkseid always has a plan," Tommy frowned. "The more we go up against him, the more I'm realizing that. I doubt he'll just sit on the weapon and keep it lying around his palace. He has plans for it. And I'm terrified to find out what they are."

"Wait a minute…" Connor stopped in his tracks. "Darkseid always has a plan… even when it seems as if he's just exercising brute force… there's a plan behind it."

"Yeah…" Chris raised an eyebrow, "What are you getting at Connor?"

"Troy just randomly turning violent and placing a bomb in one of our ships, even though only two of us were even in it… it just doesn't seem right," Connor's eyes widened as a revelation dawned on him. "Guys, there's more to this. This is Darkseid we're talking about. If he were going to reveal his spy, he would do it in a tactful way… a way that ensured his victory. All Troy did was beat us up and blow up a ship. It doesn't fit."

"What are you saying?" Kavita asked, "That Troy wasn't Apokolips' agent?"

"Darkseid also knew we would come back here…" Connor took a step backward, "So why didn't he set traps? Why didn't he have some sort of security here, waiting for us to come back? Unless…"

"Unless this _is _a trap," Tommy realized.

"What does that mean? What's happening?" Zatina demanded.

"It means we're about to find out who the traitor is…" Chris frowned.

Suddenly, a scream erupted from several yards away. The group turned to see Ethan on his knees, shrieking in agony. A bright red glow filled his eyes. A series of strange back symbols began to creep up over his body. The markings crawled across his flesh, forming intricate patterns on his body, like a tattoo rapidly enveloping him. "Help me!" Ethan screamed.

"What's happening to him?" Kavita shouted.

"I'm sensing something crazy…" Zatina stammered, "It's like… like magic, but… _darker_. Kavita… it feels a lot like the magic barrier blocking your memories, except that the signature coming from Ethan feels… tainted."

"Everyone run!" Ethan screamed through the pain, "Run away! Now!"

Ignoring Ethan's pleas, Tommy ran over to him, grabbing his shoulders. "Ethan, what's happening?"

"Get out of here! Run away or I'll…" Ethan's voice turned a low, guttural growl. _**"I'll kill you all!"**_

A sudden pulse of heat tore through the air, blasting Tommy backward. Ethan got to his feet, the black markings now covering his entire body, writhing like snakes beneath his skin. His eyes burned with a crimson fury. **"Operation GodSword: Active. Prepare to die."**


	25. Sunfish With Shark Teeth

**A/N: Here it is… the chapter you've been waiting for. Everything is revealed her. In fact, I feel confident saying that there are more important developments in this chapter than in the rest of the story combined. Granted, this is also a very long chapter (I'm sure you've come to expect that by this point in the story) and contains a few of my favorite scenes that I've ever written. In case you couldn't tell, I'm quite excited for this one. Plus, today happens to be my birthday, so be generous and give me lots of reviews! **

**Oh, and a heads-up to Janagirl 123… I may have stolen something you said in one of your reviews and used in a piece of dialogue here. I'm sure you don't mind ;)**

Chapter Twenty-Five: Sunfish With Shark Teeth

Troy Prince strode into the ruins of the Bat Cave confidently, whistling a tune as bats swirled the room. Troy reached what had used to be the super-computer used by Batman, and eyed the dust-covered machine with a bemused smile. "What a dinosaur," he laughed to himself, and withdrew a flash-drive from his pocket. He activated the computer for the first time in nearly two decades, and inserted the flash drive into a USB port. Troy then activated his Amazonian super speed, hammering away at the keyboard faster than the human brain could even register.

Sifting quickly and methodically through all Batman's old files, Troy began copying several items to the flash drive, a satisfied grin on his face. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the screen filled with static and the computer went berserk, becoming unresponsive to anything Troy attempted. "Electromagnetic pulse…" Troy muttered, sensing the presence of a figure behind him. "I wondered when you would come for me, Alex."

"Good to see you too, bastard," Alex Luthor stepped out from the shadows, his EMP gauntlet glowing with activity. Alex looked as though he hadn't slept in days. His usually cold and calculating eyes were sunken in and tired, his cocksure expression replaced by solemn determination. Alex extended one of his wrist-blades. The eerie light cast by the fuzzy computer screen gleamed off the blade, lighting Alex up in a radiant aura.

"I take it you aren't here to talk about the weather," Troy grinned. "I'm a bit confused as to why you are here, actually."

"It really isn't all that complicated. You killed Corey. So I'm going to kill you."

"I hate to kill your revenge boner, Alex, but I seem to remember Corey sacrificing himself. Sure, I roughed him up a bit, but I didn't kill anyone."

"You created the scenario that forced Corey to sacrifice himself. Compromise and justify all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that his blood is on your hands. And I'm going to make you pay for it."

"_You're_ preaching to me about compromises and justifications? Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at yourself for a minute, Alex. You repeatedly screw over everyone who tries to be your friend, and justify it with this melodramatic nihilist idealism that all people are evil at their core. You pretend to be some deep intellectual who understands the truth in human nature, but here's the _real _truth, Alex. You only convince yourself that everyone else is terrible and deserves to be cheated and manipulated, because it helps you sleep at night. Isn't that right, Alex? It's easier to live with your lying, cheating self if you believe they deserve it."

"Is this the part where you try getting into my head, toying with my emotions and breaking me down? Sorry Troy, I'm not that gullible."

"Aren't you though?" Troy smiled, "I can name at least three lies you've believed your entire life."

"What are you rambling about now?"

"Don't you know who I'm working for? Or in your relentless pursuit of me, did you neglect to investigate that little detail?"

"I couldn't care less who you take orders from. I just know that before I leave here… they'll short one errand boy." Wasting no more time, Alex activated his magnetic field and ripped the rusted guard rails off of the platform, hurling them at Troy like javelins. Troy dodged around them with ease, just as Alex had expected. Shifting the magnetic field, the pipes suddenly began to warp, and bent around Troy mid-dodge, clasping around his body like a cage.

Before Troy could break free, Alex lunged forward and drove his gauntlet blade toward Troy's chest. The blade was just beginning to break skin, causing blood to spurt from the puncture, when Troy ripped himself free of the piping and drove a powerful knee into Alex's stomach. Alex dropped to his knees, and Troy punched him in the jaw, rocketing him across the floor.

Alex got back on his feet quickly and stepped to the left, barely evading a well-aimed throwing knife. Alex looked up to see Troy descending upon him, preparing to swing his sword! Alex made an X with his gauntlet blades, shielding him from the blow. Troy's sword connected with the blades, and the sheer force of the impact nearly broke Alex's arms. Cracks emerged in his blades, slowly growing.

"I soloed your entire team… did you seriously think you stood a stance alone?" Troy growled.

"They are not _my _team."

"Oh, right… Alex the loner," Troy doubled back and delivered a crushing roundhouse kick to Alex's side. "The loner dies alone. How poetic." Troy raised his sword, and plunged it downward. Alex rolled, and the blade sliced his upper arm. Alex grabbed the blade and sent an electric pulse through the metal, into Troy's hands. Troy let out a yelp and leaped backward, disoriented. Alex jumped into the air, planted his feet onto the hilt of Troy's sword, sprung off of it, performed a backflip that landed him behind Troy, and slashed the back of his neck. Blood sprayed from the wound, and Troy let out a cry. However, as he tried to react, he felt his muscles lock up, his body became nonresponsive, and a searing pain erupted through him.

Troy fell onto his hands and knees, trembling, fighting back painful muscle spasms. "What the hell did you do to me?!"

"I channeled an electrical surge through my blade when I slashed your neck. Sent a powerful shock right into your central nerve system."

"Son of a bitch…" Troy tried to stand, and immediately found himself stumbling. Alex struck him down with a fierce right hook, and watched the young half-Amazonian convulse on the floor.

"You'll regain control over your motor functions in about fifteen minutes," Alex held out his hand, "Not that you'll live that long." Activating his magnetic field, Alex levitated Troy's sword into the air, and caused it to float menacingly toward Troy's throat. Alex ran the blade ever so precisely down Troy's cheek, drawing a crimson stream down the length of his face. "Troy Prince, the Trojan Horse… killed by his own sword. What were you saying about poetic deaths?"

To Alex's surprise, Troy began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You…" Troy chuckled, "You're just like your father."

"You know nothing about my father."

"I know _plenty_. Egotistical, ruthless, brilliant, tactical, narcissistic, manipulative, vengeful… it must be in the family name. Like father like son."

"Shut up."

"Remember all those times daddy beat you when you were little, Alex? All those times he lost his temper, or got a little too controlling, or just plain felt like hurting you?"

"Shut up!"

"I bet that's where you got this self-aggrandized sense of personal justice… how many times did you defend your little sister from him? How many times did you step in front of her and take a beating from your father, just to watch her die at the hands of Granny Goodness, knowing you were absolutely, utterly, powerless to save her?"

"I said shut up!"

"You've been punishing yourself your whole life haven't you? You didn't take that last beating for her… you didn't step in front of her and give up your own life… you just watched her bleed, heard her scream… did she call out to you, Alex? Did she plead for her big brother to come and save her? With her last breath, did she ask why you weren't there? Or do you think she knew why? Perhaps she knew the _real _you, Alex… she knew that you were just like da-"

"Stop!" Alex struck Troy in the face, knocking him to the floor again. His hands were shaking, and as he backed away from Troy, a single tear ran down his cheek.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Knowing that in your quest to avenge your sister, you allowed yourself to become the very thing that hurt her. The mirror image of the man you once defended her from. Is that why you keep your hair long? Some kind of final act of defiance? I'm genuinely curious."

"Do you ever turn off?" Alex muttered, his voice shaky. He willed himself to regain his composure, calling back his strength. "You can't manipulate me like everyone else. I won't let you get in my head."

"Nope…" Troy grinned, "But you _will _let me stall you while I recover from your little shock."

"Wha-" Alex's eyes widened with the realization that Troy had just been killing time. In a blur, Troy delivered a powerful blow to Alex's midriff, collapsing him onto his knees. Alex swung his wrist-blade forward, but Troy grabbed his wrist and snapped it back, jerking Alex onto his feet and pulling him into a tight hold. Troy flung Alex with frightening ease.

Alex collided with the monitor of the Bat-Computer, shattering the screen upon impact. His skin shredded by the glass, Alex slumped to the floor in a bloodied heap. "You could have killed me," Troy laughed, walking casually toward the defeated Luthor. "You were _so _close. But I got you with the single deadliest weapon in my arsenal… the truth."

Troy knelt down and grabbed Alex's chin, moving his gaze toward him. "And now, I could kill you just as easily. But here's the _truth_, Alex… I could use your help."

"Go to hell," Alex spat.

"Hear me out now," Troy grinned. "You ever hear that old saying, The Enemy of my Enemy is My Friend? That applies here. You and I share a common enemy."

"Tommy and his friends are _not _my enemies."

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about Apokolips. One resident, in particular…" Troy withdrew what looked like a PDA, and flashed the screen to Alex. On it was a picture of Granny Goodness. "As I've mentioned before, Alex, I work for some very powerful people. And Granny just happens to have something in her possession that these people want. I've been assigned to take it from her. But… that's a bit of a problem. As you know, her palace is pretty well guarded. However, if I had an ally…"

"You want me to help you kill Goodness?"

"Killing her is your call. I'm simply supposed to retrieve something from her possession. But if you help me get to her... she's all yours."

"So I can get revenge on the bitch that killed my sister… _if _I side with the asshole that killed my friend."

"You'll just have to decide which vendetta is more important to you." Troy got on his feet, and typed a code into the PDA. "Oh, and decide soon. I've got this cave rigged to explode in about ten minutes."

As Troy headed for the exit, Alex struggled onto his feet and called out, "Wait…" Troy turned around and eyed Alex quizzically. "I'll do it," Alex breathed. "But if I help you… I want to know exactly who you're working for. I want to know everything."

"Believe me Alex," Troy grinned, "You _really _don't."

…

Allie, Jesse, Flo, Quinton, Mckayla and Sky regrouped in the center of Central City. "We can't keep this up much longer," Quinton huffed, "Darkseid's forces just keep coming."

"Why hasn't Tommy contacted us yet?" Sky asked worriedly, "They should have the Hellspear by now…"

"It's obvious that something went wrong," Mckayla stated. "For all we know, the others might not even be alive."

"Don't say that," Jesse spat immediately. "Seriously. Don't say that."

"Tommy isn't answering his communicator," Allie frowned, worry heavy in her voice. "I'm just getting a bunch of static when I try signaling him."

"Maybe we should just retreat…" Flo sighed.

"And let all these innocent people be massacred? Not a chance," Allie shook her head.

"But maybe we _can _lure Darkseid's invasion force away from the city," Mckayla suggested. "This will be a lot easier if we don't have to keep stopping to save a civilian at every turn. Maybe we can draw their forces into a rural area."

"Where we won't have the cover of buildings or any battlefield advantage whatsoever? A rural area means more open space, which means more room for them to blast us into oblivion," Quinton argued.

"Yeah but-" Mckayla began to protest, when suddenly a loud rumbling filled the air.

"Um… what the hell is that?" Jesse blurted.

"Thunder?" Sky suggested.

"Don't think so…" Flo shook her head, "If it were going to storm, I'd be sensing a lot more moisture in the air than this. In fact… it's getting hotter. Like, a _lot _hotter."

"Sky, can you fly up and check it out?" Allie asked.

"Yeah, just a sec," Sky activated his flight ring and took off into the air. Once he was well above the rooftops, he looked to find the source of the rumbling. And what he saw horrified him. The clouds began to disperse, and a massive figure descended from the sky. It possessed a burning skull for a head, complete with an armored red body and a blazing cannon in place of its left arm. It stood over fifty feet tall, and its very presence seemed to heat the atmosphere.

"Oh my God…" Sky stammered, awestruck by the creature. It readied its arm cannon, spying Sky from across the city, and fired a powerful blast of intense heat. Sky shielded his face with his arms and braced for impact. The blast washed over him, and an intense, searing pain ripped through his body. He could feel himself burn, and all of his senses died, consumed by agony. Then the beam faded, and Sky fell. Smoldering, he tumbled through the air and crashed into the streets below, leaving a crater.

"Sky!" Allie and the others ran toward him. Jesse reached him first, and sat him up. Sky groaned, barely conscious, his body covered in ash.

"Dude, are you alright?" Jesse shook him, trying to keep him awake.

"We…" Sky coughed, "We have a big problem."

Thunderous footsteps blasted in the distance, growing closer with each passing second, and soon the monster was looming over them, its burning skull looking upon them with an amused expression.

"What the holy hell is that?" Mckayla gaped.

"If I'm not mistaken…" Quinton frowned, "That is Brimstone."

"What the heck is Brimstone?" Jesse shouted.

"A nuclear monster… a being of sentient plasma created within the depths of Apokolips' lake of fire."

"Give me a scale, Q… how tough is it?" Allie asked.

"Well, last time it was on Earth, it took the combined efforts of Captain Atom, Supergirl, Green Arrow and Green Lantern to put it down, and all of them nearly died in the process… if that's any indication."

"Its official… we're all dead," Mckayla sighed.

"Not very optimistic, are you?" Jesse helped Sky stand, "Can you still fight, blondie?"

"Absolutely," Sky brushed soot and ash off of his tattered clothing. "This thing just pissed me off."

"Allie, strategy?" Flo asked, extending her water swords.

"Q, any weak spots on this thing?"

"Brimstone's reactor core is held in his chest. If we can destroy that, he should burn himself out."

"Got it," Allie turned to the team. "Jesse, keep this thing distracted. Try and keep it isolated to this general vicinity, we want to keep the destruction as localized as possible. Quinton and Mckayla, clear out any civilians in the area. Sky, get Flo and I onto the rooftops. The three of us will go for the reactor core. Everybody clear?"

"Why am I always the distraction?" Jesse grumbled, taking off toward Brimstone's feet.

"Remember, Brimstone is radioactive… he doesn't necessarily have to hit us to kill us. If we're in the area around him too long, we'll die of exposure," Quinton warned.

"Why not?" Allie readied an arrow, "It's not like we've been in _enough_ danger today."

…

Tommy wobbled onto his feet, thrown back by Ethan's surge of energy. Connor helped him stand.

"I'll kill you all!" Ethan roared, his eyes glowing a fierce red color, dark tattoos writhing beneath his skin.

"Something's controlling him," Zatina warned, "I sense a strong supernatural aura coming from him… but it's not a kind of magic I recognize."

"Just like the magic obstructing my memories," Kavita noted.

"Yeah… it feels exactly like that, except while the seal on your memories seems more concentrated… whatever's going on with Ethan right now, its chaotic, unstable… I think Ethan's fighting it."

"Well I think he's _losing_," Connor shouted as Ethan's palms began to glow.

Ethan plunged his hands forward and fired a blast of energy toward the group. Chris leapt to the front of the team, in his metallic form, and molded his body into a shield. The blast struck Chris and rocketed him into the dirt, smoke billowing.

"What do we do?" Zatina shouted over the roar of the blast.

"We need to take him down, there's no other choice…" Tommy frowned. "Zatina, provide cover, keep Ethan distracted. Kavita, fly Connor to the top of the fortress. Connor, once you're at a high vantage point, put as many arrows into him as you can. Kavita, regroup with Chris and I… we'll lead into an assault, I want to take him out quickly and efficiently. Go!"

_"Eralf!" _Zatina cried out, and a burst of light exploded from her hand, showering the area in blinding radiance. Ethan winced, blinded by the flare, and the team dispersed. Following Tommy's plan, Kavita grabbed Connor, spread her wings and flew upward, dropping to the top of the fortress that had previously been used by the Legion of Doom. Connor did not hesitate to open fire on the still blinded Ethan, raining arrows from above.

Kavita swooped downward, morphed her sword into a large hammer, and swung it into Ethan's head. With a thundering crack, Ethan was rocketed across the landscape, arrows penetrating his flesh. He hit the ground in a heap.

"Think he's down?" Chris asked.

"That easy? Not a chance," Tommy sighed.

Ethan quickly got back on his feet and let out a roar, releasing a burst of energy that shook the landscape. The quake was so intense that the ground began to split, becoming highly unstable. Tommy called out, "Z! Give us some stability!"

"On it!" Zatina held out her hand, glowing with mystic energy. "_Mroftalp Tsefinam!"_

A flat platform constructed from solid purple energy manifested underneath their feat, allowing them to stand evenly as Ethan destroyed the landscape. Tommy looked to Chris and yelled, "Think now would be a good time to try Attack Pattern Delta?"

"I think now would be an excellent time," Chris nodded. Suddenly, his robotic arm morphed into a sonic cannon!

"Whoa…" Connor spoke into his communicator, "Chris, when did you get that?"

"Back when we used the old Titans Tower as a base, I found some of Cyborg's old schematics. After Darkseid cut off my arm, I decided to copy his design and make a sonic cannon of my own," Chris grinned. "With a few modifications of course."

"You never cease to amaze me brainiac," Connor laughed, firing off a flash-bang arrow to confuse Ethan.

Chris fired the sonic cannon, releasing a powerful blast of compressed sonic vibrations. Tommy threw an explosive batarang into the blast, and it moved within the stream. The sonic wave struck Ethan head on, blasting him backward, and within the same instant Tommy's batarang detonated, sending Ethan flying. Kavita touched down behind Ethan and, as he flew toward her, delivered a powerful punch to his back that rocketed him the other way.

Zatina held out both hands and unleashed a torrent of energy blasts toward Ethan. However, Ethan saw them coming and smiled. Zatina's blasts seemed to melt into Ethan's flesh, and a supercharged aura appeared around him. In a blur, Ethan was in the air. He flew directly toward Connor, murder in his eyes. Connor fired an arrow, but it entered the energy field around Ethan and disintegrated.

"Oh boy…" Connor back-flipped out of the way just as Ethan collided with the rooftop, throwing up a storm of debris. Before the smoke even cleared, Ethan fired an eye-beam that struck Connor in the chest, blasting him into submission, a smoldering hole in his body.

Connor let out a pained groan as he slowly began to collect himself. Ethan neared him, and formed a spear of pure energy in his hands. Ethan raised the weapon, and prepared to plunge it downward and impale Connor.

At the last moment, Zatina arose through the floor, intangible. She grabbed Connor and phased back through the roof with him, causing Ethan's spear to strike nothing but ceiling tile. Zatina reappeared behind him, and held out her hands. "_Esaeler Dniwlrihw!" _And a gust of powerful wind formed around Ethan, quickly creating a tornado that lifted Ethan off of his feet, spinning him violently into the air.

"He'll absorb whatever energy we throw at him," Chris observed, "Stick to physical attacks as much as possible."

"Aren't New Gods generally as durable as Kryptonians?" Kavita frowned, "None of us are packing a punch big enough to take him down with brute force."

"We just need to subdue him until we can figure out how to break whatever's controlling him," Tommy reasoned.

"And what if we can't contain him?" Connor knocked an arrow, "If push comes to shove, how far are we willing to go?"

"If you feel like you have no other choice than to make a kill shot… do it. But don't expect me to condone it," Tommy responded, looking to Zatina. "How much longer can you hold him back with that whirlwind?"

"At the rate he's struggling? About fifteen seconds."

"More than enough time," Kavita took off into the air, morphed her sword into a mace and drove it straight into Ethan's skull as the wind carried him toward her. To her surprise, Ethan was barely fazed by this assault, and grabbed her by the throat. She delivered a flurry of punches into Ethan's face, but again, there was barely any effect, and she realized that the energy Ethan had absorbed as augmenting his durability.

Ethan began to choke Kavita with terrifying ease, cutting off her breathe with the simplest squeeze. His eyes were glowing a fiery red, the mysterious black tattoos snaking and writhing beneath his skin, a wicked smile on his face. But as her vision began to darken, she saw something startling… Ethan was crying. Tears poured from his eyes, and quickly evaporated on his skin. Behind his forced, sadistic smile Ethan managed to mouth the words, "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, the claws of a grapple gun shot into Ethan's back, clenching around bone with crushing force, and Ethan let out a shriek of pain. Tommy retracted the grapple and pulled himself upward toward Ethan. He wrapped his arms forcefully around Ethan's shoulders and placed his knife threateningly at his throat. "Let her go!"

Ethan's pained expression quickly morphed back into his murderous smile, and Darkseid's voice emerged from his mouth; "My pleasure."

Ethan threw the barely-conscious Kavita with tremendous force, and she spiraled toward the ground. Ethan then let out a roar, and a pulse of destructive energy erupted from his body, blasting Tommy off of him. Ethan spun around and brought his fist forcefully down onto Tommy's chest, bolting him downward.

Tommy smashed through the roof of the fortress below them and hit the concrete floor in a heap. Ethan crashed down behind him immediately after, and fired an electrical bolt that knocked Tommy across the floor. As Tommy began to wobble onto his feet, he was met with a punch to the face that smacked him into the wall. Another bolt of electricity washed over his body, dropping him. Ethan approached menacingly, tears glistening on his face, and Darkseid spoke through him; "Prepare to die."

Outside, Zatina spied Kavita falling, and called out, _"Sesor fo Deb," _causing a mass of large flowers to sprout up beneath Kavita, cushioning her fall.

"Flowers?" Connor raised an eyebrow.

"It was the first thing that came to mind," Zatina shrugged.

"He… he was crying…" Kavita coughed, gasping for air.

"Who was crying?" Zatina asked, helping her up.

"Ethan. And I swear he whispered 'I'm sorry.'"

"He's trying to fight whatever's controlling him," Chris reasoned.

"Well he isn't doing a very good job. He nearly killed you."

"That means there might be hope for him though," Kavita pleaded, "We need to try and get through to him."

"We don't know that it will work. For all we know, whoever is controlling him is _making _him cry so that we'll hold back," Connor argued.

"So what are we supposed to do? Keep throwing punches at him? Clearly that isn't working."

"You're both right," Chris stated, stepping between them. "We can't beat him in a straight up fight. He's got more power at his disposal than all of us combined. And Ethan is the most strong-willed and stubborn person I've ever met, next to Corey… if he can't fight off whatever's controlling him, we probably won't be much help."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Zatina eyed him.

"Ethan's being used as a puppet, right? So we need to find the puppeteer."

Back inside the fortress, Ethan flung another punch at Tommy. Tommy reacted this time, ducking aside and rolling behind Ethan. He slashed out with his knife, catching Ethan in the ribs and drawing blood. Ethan spun around, and Tommy barely dodged his kick, flipping up and planting his hands on Ethan's shoulders. He sprung off of him and threw a batarang his way. Ethan caught the weapon, but it quickly detonated, releasing a haze of liquid nitrogen that froze Ethan in a block of ice.

Right away, the ice began to crack, and Ethan smashed free within seconds, charging toward Tommy to find that he had planted C4 on the floor. Tommy pressed the detonator as Ethan stepped over the explosive, and the resulting blast blew Ethan straight upward.

As Tommy anticipated, Ethan absorbed the thermal energy from the blast, and unleashed a torrent of flame. Tommy rolled, ducking behind a concrete pillar. The fire wrapped around the pillar, engulfing the room in intense heat. Tommy tried to catch his breath, and called out to Ethan over the roar of the fire, "I know you can hear me, Darkseid! I figure you've got Ethan wired well enough…"

"I'll make you a deal, Thomas Grayson…" Darkseid's gravely, powerful voice radiated from Ethan's lips. "Surrender yourself, and I shall spare the lives of your friends. For the time being, at least."

"Bullshit," Tommy spat, "If you're going to lie to me, at least put some effort into it."

"I speak truthfully. You give them direction, and you give them hope. I suspect that with you out of the way, your little friends will quickly fall apart and fade into obscurity."

"If you believe that, you don't know a thing about them. Not one of us will ever give up… we're the perpetual thorns in your side, Darkseid. Kill one of us, and it just motivates the rest of us more. We're going to be in your hair until you're out of ours." Tommy grinned, "You and me… our paths will never stop crossing. Till death do us part."

"Very well," Darkseid uttered, "Death it is." Ethan's body lunged forward, smashing the pillar with a mighty punch. As the concrete pillar crumbled, Ethan was shocked to see that Tommy was no longer there. A grapple line fired out from the shadows behind him, and clasped the far wall. The line retracted as Ethan turned around, and was met with a high-velocity kick form Tommy riding the grapple line. Blood sprayed from Ethan's nose, but he recuperated swiftly and grabbed the line, yanking it from the wall and swing Tommy into another pillar. Tommy collided against the concrete with a brutal crack, and slumped down, groaning painfully. He barely rolled away from another of Ethan's blasts, which decimated the pillar.

Tommy whipped out a smoke pellet that shrouded the room in thick smog. He then flanked behind Ethan and went in for a tackle. Ethan's super-hearing made it easy to track Tommy's location, however, and he spun around, grabbed Tommy and smashed him into the floor.

"Pitiful," Darkseid's voice growled. Suddenly, a chunk of debris levitated into the air and flew into Ethan, knocking him away from Tommy. Zatina teleported into the room in a flash of light, bringing the others with her. "Lambs to the slaughter…" Darkseid growled, and Ethan got to his feet, energy surging in his palms. "Very well, _heroes_. Line up to die."

…

Allie fired off arrows toward Brimstone's chest, but his armor proved impenetrable by anything in her arsenal. Performing a series of acrobatic flips, Allie leapt from rooftop to rooftop as Brimstone devastated everything in his wake, firing blasts of powerful radiation that she was often barely able to evade. She hid behind the debris of a fallen billboard, drenched in sweat and ash, breathing heavily. She took note that she was running low on arrows.

Allie contacted Sky and Flo on a joint radio channel and asked, "Any luck on your end?"

"Not much," Flo's response came first. "No matter what I do I can't get through this things armor. He's just shrugging off all my attacks like its nothing."

"Same here," Sky responded. "I've been flying around firing heat vision at this guy for twenty minutes, no luck. And I can't get close enough to punch him… it's like flying into a nuclear oven."

"So… a microwave?" Allie grinned.

"A what?"

"Never mind. I forgot you grew up in a bubble."

"I take offense to that! It was really more of a _pod_."

"Guys," Flo interrupted, "I appreciate the banter as much as anyone, but we're trying to stop a freaking Hiroshima bombing with legs."

"What the heck is a Hiroshima?" Sky questioned.

"If we survive this, remind me to buy you a history book," Allie rolled her eyes. "How's Jesse holding up? I can't get him to respond."

"From what I can tell, he's still zooming around Brimstone's feet and throwing rocks. To be honest, I don't think Brimstone even notices," Flo responded.

"What about Quinton and Mckayla? Either of you two seen them?"

"I spotted them about fifteen minutes ago," Sky said, "They were heading down 21st Street with a family of four. It looked like Mckayla was providing cover fire while Q got them to safety."

"Have you been able to get in touch with Tommy yet?" Flo asked.

"No… I'm really starting to worry," Allie sighed, peering around her cover to get a look at Brimstone. The nuclear monster's back was to her now, and he was lumbering toward Sky, who was buzzing through the air unleashing combos of heat vision and freeze breath. Allie reached into her quiver, and counted six more arrows. She considering firing one off to try and deter the creature's attention from Sky, but decided against then. She had to be conservative with what little ammo she had left, make every shot count.

Suddenly, Jesse's voice buzzed in through the communicator. "Anybody else feel like they're going to barf?"

"Now that you mention it…" Flo muttered.

"Must be the radiation poisoning Quinton warned us about," Allie sighed, "Be careful. Try and keep distance from this thing whenever possible."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sky shouted, dodging around a blast from the creature's cannon arm. He dove underneath the blast and grabbed the remains of a semi-truck, hurling it at Brimstone. The projectile had no effect whatsoever, and Brimstone swept its arm out with surprising speed, striking Sky with the metallic palm of its hand. Sky went barreling through the air, and crashed through several buildings before finally tumbling into the street. "Ugh… this thing just bitch slapped me!" Sky shouted, crawling up from the rubble.

Up on the rooftops, Allie's communicator sounded, and she looked down to see Tommy's name. A wave of relief washed over her, and she answered the call immediately. "What's happening on your end?"

"Kind of a long story…" Tommy responded.

"Got a short version?"

"Darkseid already has the Hellspear, and Ethan is being mind-controlled by some crazy magical force that Zatina can't identify, and now Darkseid is speaking through him and we've been fighting him without any luck. You?"

"My day has been about as lovely as yours, consisting of innumerable Parademons, enemy drones, tons of civilians to save and, to top it all off, we're fighting an unstoppable nuclear monster that we can't even seem to hurt."

"Darkseid is pulling out all the stops, huh? He's not holding anything back this time."

"I'm a little bit flattered, actually. Who else since our parents have made him try _this _hard?"

"Our parents never had to deal with this crap… Ethan is absorbing any type of energy we throw at him, and fighting him hand-to-hand hasn't exactly gone well either."

"Wait a minute… he's absorbing _any _form of energy…?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Tommy, make Zatina port you guys to Central City right away. Including Ethan."

"You sure?"

"Just trust me. I have an idea."

…

Quinton and Mckayla ushered a family of four down the street. Mckayla was providing cover fire with a laser weapon she had stolen from a Parademon, keeping enemies at bay while Quinton got the family somewhere safe.

A Parademon managed to get around Mckayla's defense and attack Quinton. Q aimed his makeshift freeze gun, the one he had made the cooling units he found aboard an Apokoliptian ship, and froze the creature in a block of ice. It hit the ground and shattered.

"Wow!" The little boy in the family shouted, "That is awesome! Did you make that yourself?"

"Yes. Earlier today I snuck aboard an Apokoliptian aircraft to investigate their method of transport for such a large invasion force. I was surprised to find an array of complex cryogenic cooling units used to freeze the Parademons in suspended animation. Once the ships arrive at the destination of their invasion, they unfreeze the Parademons and release them into the populace they plan to slaughter. I stealthily disconnected several pieces of these cooling units and used them to create my own freeze weapon for offensive use against the hordes of invaders." Quinton looked down at the boy to see him staring up with a blank expression. Quinton sighed and muttered, "Yes, I made it myself. It makes ice like winter time."

"Cool!"

"Yeah. Cool indeed."

"Wow…" The youngest of the family, a six year old girl, said, "Too bad it's not big enough to use on the big fire guy that your friends are fighting."

Quinton stopped in his tracks, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face. "Little girl, you are much smarter than your brother."

"Hey!" The boy shouted, and the girl laughed.

"Mckayla!" Quinton called, "Get these four into the basement of this building. They should be safe there for the time being."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have an idea," and without another word, Quinton aimed his freeze blaster at the ground, fired and launched himself up into the air, where he grabbed onto a small Apokoliptian aircraft and rode it upwards toward the Mother Ship.

"Um… ok," Mckayla sighed, looking to the family. "Get into that building, quick. Find the basement and-"

Before she could finish her sentence, an incoming drone fired a bolt of energy at the little girl. "No!" Mckayla jumped in, tackling the child to shield her from the blast. There was an explosion, pain washed over Mckayla's body… and then everything went black…

…

Zatina's force field would not hold up much longer. Ethan bombarded her shields with a flurry of crushing punches that shook the very foundations of the fortress around them. Her face specked with blood, Zatina kept pouring energy into the shield, holding Ethan back. The team lay behind her, defeated. Tommy called from behind her, "Allie wants you to take us to Central City! _All _of us!"

"I'm a little bit busy!" Zatina cried, her nose bleeding from the sheer concentration required to keep the field up.

"I got him," Chris took metal form and tackled Ethan, knocking him through the wall. Zatina fell to her knees, breathing heavily, her vision blurry.

"Can you create a portal big enough to get us all there?" Tommy asked, helping her sit up straight.

"I need a few minutes to recharge. Can you guys hold him off a bit longer?"

"We can try, I'll promise you that," Tommy sighed.

"I'm running low on arrows _and _enthusiasm," Connor grumbled.

"I'm almost out of weapons too," Tommy nodded. "Kavita, how are you holding up?"

"Tired, but I can fight."

"Give me a time frame Zatina… how long do we need to keep holding him off?"

"Uh… ten minutes?"

"Any chance you can speed it up?" Connor groaned.

"At ten minutes, I can't even promise that I can get is all the way to Central City. The portal might die halfway through and we'll be trapped in limbo."

"So… that's a no," Connor sighed. "Ok then, ten minutes. I can do ten minutes. Probably."

From outside, Ethan let out a monstrous roar, and Chris was suddenly thrown back through the hole in the wall, and straight out the other end of the building. Ethan emerged from the billowing smoke, his body enveloped in a torrent of raw energy.

"Ok…" Connor backed up, "That's not encouraging at all."

…

Mckayla's eyes slowly fluttered open, adjusting to the dim light. The ringing in her ears began to subside, and the first sound she heard was that of running water. The second as girl crying. A tingling sensation ran over Mckayla's body as feeling slowly returned to her, followed immediately by pain. Her whole body ached, but the most intense point was her leg. Once her vision had recovered, she studied the leg. Though she had to squint in the darkness around her, she saw bone protruding from the wound, and a fair amount of blood. The smell of burnt flesh was evident. It was clear that her leg had taken the brunt of the blast. "Better than my head…" Mckayla muttered, looking around.

She saw the little girl she had saved, huddled in a corner weeping. Luckily, she wasn't dead. Mckayla attempted to stand, and searing pain rocketed through her body. Knowing she wouldn't be able to stand on the leg without some artificial support, Mckayla bit into her shirt, and ripped off a large piece of fabric. The shirt, already torn from battle, was now virtually nonexistent, and she simply threw what little fabric remained off of her body. She then looked around, straining her eyes to see in the darkness, and spied a broken piece of wood. She grabbed the chunk of wood, held it to her leg and tied the piece of shirt fabric around it, creating a makeshift tourniquet.

Forcing herself to stand, biting her lip so as not to scream, Mckayla got onto her feet and approached the girl, kneeling down before her. "Hey, are you hurt?"

"No…" The girl shook her head, sobbing. "You saved me."

"No problem," Mckayla managed a smile, trying to raise the girl's spirits a little. "What happened after I passed out?"

"The road collapsed and we got trapped underneath it. I was really scared… I thought you were dead…"

"I'm just fine, and you're going to be fine too, ok?" Mckayla brushed the girl's hair out of her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Amy."

"Your family didn't get caught in the blast, did they Amy?"

"Don't think so. I think they're still up top… I thought I heard daddy calling me a few minutes ago."

"Ok, so they're still alive, that's a good thing. Now we just need to figure out how to get out of here." Mckayla looked around, and once again noticed the sound of running water. She'd been so preoccupied with tending her wound and comforting the girl, she hadn't even noticed the water around her ankles gradually rising. "Hey Amy, where is this water coming from?"

"Over there," Amy pointed to the left, and Mckayla, straining her eyes, saw something that horrified her. The water main had burst, and the area around them was rapidly filling with water. Judging by the gradual rise of the water level, she estimated that they would be completely submerged in about an hour.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath. She looked up, searching for any hole in the rubble they could crawl through, but there was no such luck. The debris was thick, and there was no way they were going to dig their way out before they drown. Then, something strange caught Mckayla's eye… far down the collapsed tunnel was a dim light, a green aura that invoked an odd feeling of familiarity in her chest. "What the hell is that…?" She took a step forward, "Amy, do you see that light down there?"

"Yeah… kinda'…"

"Do you know what that is?"

"No…"

"Well," Mckayla sighed, "Might as well find out. Follow behind me, Amy. If the water gets too high for you, let me know right away and I'll carry you."

"What if the water gets too high for you?"

"Well then…" Mckayla frowned, "You're a smart kid, Amy. You shouldn't need me to tell you what happens then."

"Oh…" Amy's gaze dropped. Mckayla took her hand and, walking with a limb, urged her forward gently.

"Come on, we'll make it out of here. I promise."

…

Quinton reached the rooftop where Flo was crouched, firing off water attacks at Brimstone to no effect. "Q, what are you doing here?" Flo shouted, hiding behind a piece of fallen debris.

"Getting ready for something ridiculously dangerous," Quinton responded. "I'm going to bring Brimstone down."

"How?"

"If I told you, then I wouldn't be able to do that badass thing where I come in at the last minute and surprise everybody with my ingenious solution."

"Damn it Quinton," Flo couldn't help but smile. "I love it when you do that."

"Love… that's actually why I'm here," Quinton stepped forward. "You see, this plan of mine… there's a very big chance of, well, dying. And I really, really don't want to die with us mad at each other."

"I'm not mad, Q…"

"Yes you are. We've been at each other's throats lately, and I don't really know why… but for once, I don't really need an answer. I just need a resolution."

"Q…"

"I love you."

Flo stared at him for a long moment, the threat of tears apparent in her eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"This is exactly what I was afraid of…" Flo muttered, looking down at her feet.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just… promise me you'll love me no matter what, ok? Even if I screw up really bad?"

"Flo what's this about?"

"Just promise me? Please?"

"Ok… I promise."

"Thank you," Flo pulled Quinton into a long kiss, and once he finally pulled away she whispered, "Then whatever stupid thing you're doing… I'm going with you."

"Hold on," a voice sounded behind them, and Jesse appeared, "Did I just hear that you guys are doing something stupid… and you _didn't _invite me?" Jesse approached them, "How about we make it a threesome?"

"You want to come with us?" Flo asked.

"Well, in once sense of the word 'come' I suppose-"

"Jesse," Quinton cut him off with a glare.

"I totally meant I want to go on a stupid adventure with you guys. Geez Q, get your mind out of the gutter," Jesse smiled. "Seriously though, what stupid thing are we doing and how can I be involved?"

…

"Z, you about ready?" Tommy shouted, dodging around Ethan's energy blasts with a series of acrobatic flips.

"Yeah, but the portal is going to be isolated. I need everyone within a confined area."

"Wonderful, because confining him has worked _so _well so far," Connor rolled his eyes.

Tommy back-flipped behind Ethan and wrapped a steel wire around his arm, attempting to hold him in place.

"You still attempt to contain me?" Ethan bellowed, sending a surge of electricity through the wire and into Tommy's body. Tommy dropped to his knees, and Ethan yanked on the wire, pulling him forward. He clasped Tommy forcefully around the throat, and uttered, "Do you still hold onto some feeble hope of rescuing your friend? Are you truly so simple minded that you cannot see Ethan Pierce no longer exists?"

"I'm a bit confused about what you _want _us to do," Tommy choked, fighting Ethan's grip. "You could have killed us by now. Why haven't you?"

"I enjoy watching you struggle," Ethan grinned, tightening his grip to cut off Tommy's speech. "I find it amusing, how you continue to fight when surely you _must _comprehend that you cannot win. Ethan Pierce is no more. This body is only a vessel of Darkseid. A weapon for me to wield."

"Th- then why not attack us in person?" Tommy coughed, "What's the point of turning our friend into a puppet?"

"Puppets have strings, Thomas. There is nothing left of Ethan for me to control. His mind is gone. His body is Darkseid. What will you do when the rest of your pathetic little team have met the same fate? What will you do when _all _is Darkseid? The air you breathe, the ground you walk, the insects you swat… all merely an extension of my mighty will. What then? Will you still continue to oppose me?"

"Quit dodging my question. Why possess Ethan? Surely the almighty Darkseid isn't afraid to fight me in person."

"I simply want to see how far you're willing to go in the name of your futile little rebellion. The lengths you'll go in the name of freedom. Have you honestly not yet figured it out? I have your friend in my possession. I am using him to destroy you. You possess the tool necessary to kill him. Are you willing to do it?"

"So that's your game," Tommy grinned, and suddenly, a monumental burst of strength roared through his body. He pried Ethan's grip off of him and delivered a powerful kick to Ethan's jaw, blowing him backward.

"What the-" Ethan growled.

"Did you forget I'm one-third Amazon?" Tommy smiled, cracking his knuckles. "Short bursts of super-strength. I didn't quite have that mastered last time we fought."

"Tommy, what did you mean when you said 'that's your game?' What does he want?" Kavita asked.

"He wants us to kill Ethan," Tommy looked to Connor, "And he wants us to use that Radion bullet."

"What?" Chris shouted, "Can somebody catch me up?"

"When I got captured and was taken to Apokolips, Kavita gave me a Radion bullet," Connor reminisced.

"I had gotten it from my older brother Rex… when he died during the Invasion, he gave it to me. He wanted me to use it to kill Darkseid… but I wound up siding with him," Kavita frowned. "I gave the bullet to Connor and rigged the Mother Box so that he would be sent back to Earth and it would look like an accident. That was before I joined you guys."

"Radion is like Kryptonite to New Gods," Tommy continued, "It would be the one substance that Darkseid is vulnerable to. He knows that we have it… and that scares him. So when his spy reported back to him that Ethan had become a New God, he decided to kill two birds with one stone. He possessed Ethan so that we would be forced to kill him… with the bullet. Of course, the bullet would only work once…"

"That way, Darkseid can rid of his two biggest threats at once… Ethan and the bullet," Kavita nodded.

"That's why he hasn't killed us yet. He's trying to make us desperate, so that we'll have no other choice," Connor reasoned.

"Very clever," Ethan grinned, Darkseid's voice emanating from his throat. "But simply understanding my plan will not stop it from unfolding. This is a win/win scenario… either you use the bullet and kill Ethan Pierce, or I will use Ethan Pierce to kill all of you. Either way, I win."

"He's right…" Connor withdrew the bullet.

"No," Tommy snapped, "We're not killing Ethan. That's final."

"Tommy, he'll slaughter us. Now that we've caught onto his plan, he won't be holding back anymore. What's to stop him from releasing all his pent up energy and blowing the island straight to hell?"

"If we use that bullet to kill Ethan, we lose two of our most valuable assets."

"And if we don't, we'll lose our _lives _Tommy. Then there's no chance of stopping him. Sure, we're _less _likely to beat Darkseid without Ethan and the bullet at our disposal, but if he kills us, we'll have no chance at all."

"There are still other alternatives. Allie seems to have a plan once we get him to Central City."

"And what if her plan fails, Tommy? I love Allie, but she's never been our greatest strategist by any means. What if we bring him to Central City and he winds up slaughtering the entire population? Not to mention the other half of our team."

"Hey Tommy," Zatina shouted, "Portal's ready any time you are!"

"We're trying Allie's plan first. And if that fails…" Tommy sighed, "If it comes to it… we'll kill him."

Kavita flew toward Ethan, sword drawn, but Ethan moved with startling super-speed and evaded her attack. Before he could strike her, however, he realized that the metal platform he had stepped onto was actually Chris in his metal form. Chris melded himself up around Ethan and formed a steel cage around him.

"Now!" Tommy shouted as he and Connor approached.

Zatina conjured up a large reserve of magic and called out, _"Nepo ot Eeht Dnammoc ,I Ytic Lartnec ot Latrop!"_

…

Mckayla felt herself getting light headed. She was losing a lot of blood. The pain was worse with each step, but she had to stay strong. For little Amy, holding her hand and straddling behind her, she had to stay strong. She had to find a way out. In all honesty, Mckayla didn't care a whole lot whether she lived or died. But she couldn't allow Amy to die. She couldn't let Amy suffer.

Mckayla's vision was growing blurry and darker by the second, but Amy assured her that the ominous green light was getting brighter. For a moment, Mckayla wondered if this was all an illusion. Perhaps they had been killed by the blast after all. Perhaps they were dead already, and this was the light at the end of the tunnel that everyone spoke of.

The water was rapidly growing deeper. It was up to her knees now, and nearing Amy's chin. Mckayla knew that soon she would have to carry Amy on her shoulders, and she questioned whether or not she had the physical strength for that in her current condition. She could barely carry herself.

_No! _Mckayla pushed the thought away. _Stay strong. Keep moving. Push through. You can do this. _

Suddenly, her leg completely gave out and Mckayla fell forward, her head sinking beneath the water before she had time to react. The filthy, polluted water filled her longs and her nostrils burned. Beyond the thumping in her eardrums, Mckayla could vaguely hear Amy's distorted scream. _Get up. Get up. Get up! Get up! _Mckayla willed herself upward, gasping for air.

"Are you ok?" Amy murmured.

"Fine…" Mckayla lied, wobbling back onto her feet. It occurred to her for the first time that the water was incredibly polluted and filled with bacteria, probably not good for the open wound on her leg. She could already tell it was infected. _No wonder I'm feeling so sick_.

"Come on, we're almost to the light," Amy urged her forward, and Mckayla forced herself to move along.

"Amy, the water's getting too deep for you. Get up on my shoulders." Mckayla hoisted the girl up, and with all of her inner strength, kept moving forward. The water was at her hips now. She noticed a few loose electrical wires hanging from the ceiling, some of them dangling very close to the waterline. _Wonderful_, she thought, _I get to be electrocuted and then drown. But hey, at least I'll be dead before the infection in my leg can kill me!_

Suddenly, Mckayla reached a ledge that she hadn't noticed, and slipped forward, beginning a free-fall. She rolled in the air and braced Amy against her chest, hoping to shield her from the coming impact. Mckayla hit water first, and was immediately sucked under. As her senses were thrown into a panic, she became vaguely aware of her head cracking against a concrete floor. A cloud of blood filled the water, her muscles gave in, her lungs screamed for air, and her brain quit working.

Mckayla closed her eyes, ready to succumb to death's embrace. Then she felt Amy kicking. _Amy._

Mckayla opened her eyes, clenched her teeth, and summoned her last ounce of willpower, pouring it through every fiber of her being and pushing forward. She held Amy close, moving her legs fast, doing everything she could to ascend.

While it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like hours. Finally, she broke the surface of the water, immediately taking in as much air as she could. Mckayla spotted a few planks of wood floating, forming an island, and swam over to them, placing Amy on the makeshift raft before pulling herself up with all her might. Her head was bleeding almost as badly as her leg now. Her vision was distorted, her body thrown into a frenzy by a lack of oxygen. And all Mckayla could think was, _Amy. Amy. Amy._

Moving over to the little girl, Mckayla felt for a pulse. It was weak, but still present. _Thank God. _Mckayla began pushing on Amy's chest, trying to expel the water from her lungs. The moment she felt as though she had enough breath, she began to perform CPR. No luck. Her pulse was fading.

"Come on…" Mckayla muttered, pressing on Amy's abdomen. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"

Finally, the water came shooting out of Amy's lungs. Amy began to cough, her lungs demanding air, and Mckayla held the girl up, trying to get her breathing steady. "It's okay Amy. You'll be okay."

"L- Look…" Amy coughed, pointing to their left.

Mckayla looked up to see the source of the green light. Far to their left, the glow erupted from beneath the water. Squinting her eyes, Mckayla could barely make out a skeletal form beneath the water. On the skeleton's finger was a glowing green ring.

"What the…" Mckayla's eyes widened. "It can't be…"

"What is it?" Amy asked softly.

"It's…" Mckayla carefully stood up on the raft, taking a cautious step forward. "It's a Green Lantern."

"That's one of the superhero guys who died fighting the bad guys, isn't it?"

"This… this must have been the location of John Stewart's last stand. I'd heard rumors that he was killed in a battle over Central City… his body must have been entombed here."

Suddenly, the ring began to glow brighter, and lifted off of the skeletal remains of John Stewart. The ring levitated toward Mckayla, and a voice spoke in her mind; "Mckayla Saunders: You Have Been Chosen."

"What…"

The ring started glowing brighter, and Amy huddled up against Mckayla. "What's happening?"

There was a blinding flash, and Mckayla felt a sense of power wash over her. Suddenly, the light began to dim, and the ring had materialized itself on her finger. "I… I'm a Green Lantern…"

"How does it work?" Amy eyed the ring, mystified.

"No idea. I guess I just try imagining somethi-"There was another flash of light, and a green and black costume materialized over Mckayla's body, complete with a GL insignia on her chest. A domino mask appeared on her face, completing the uniform. And more than that, the emerald energy seemed to have a healing effect on her body, closing both her head wound and her leg wound within seconds.

"Whoa!" Amy's eyes widened. "That is so cool!"

"Yeah…" Mckayla grinned, "I guess it is." She looked to Amy with a smile, "Now how about we get out of here?"

…

Allie rolled away from Brimstone's blast as it decimated the building behind her. The foundation of the building began to collapse beneath her, and Allie leapt into the air, grabbing the rusted skeleton of a flagpole to stop her fall. Sweat, blood and ash drenched her from head to toe, but she couldn't stop. Not even for a second. She flipped upwards on the bar, planting her feet atop it and springing off.

Brimstone aimed his cannon, and called out, "Sky!"

Immediately, a light blue blur soared in and pulled Allie out of the blast range. Sky dropped her atop a water tower and knelt down next to her. "So… we're making on progress at all."

"No kidding. I've got two arrows left, and we haven't even put a dent in this radioactive bastard."

"Where are Tommy and the others? Didn't you tell them to come here?"

"Guess they ran into complications on their end. Can't say I'm surprised."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to realize that this is never easy."

Brimstone turned around slowly, catching sight of Sky and Allie. The nuclear monster eyed them with a look of soul-crushing curiosity. After everything, after they had battled the creature all day and given it their all, he was only meagerly interested in them. It was as if he were just noticing them and was a bit curious as to what they were trying to do.

"You know what?" Sky sighed, "I'm gonna' end this."

"What do you mean?"

"Wish me luck."

"Sky, what are you doing?"

As Brimstone readied his arm cannon and prepared to fire, Sky took off in flight, soaring directly toward the mouth of the cannon! "If I can't hurt this thing from the outside, maybe I'll have better luck inside!"

"Sky, don't!"

Sky was just about to enter the cannon, when a portal opened above them. From it, Tommy, Zatina, Connor, Kavita and Chris leapt frantically. "Tommy!" Allie shouted as he descended toward her.

"Get ready… we brought you one hell of a party," Tommy said as he landed next to her.

Ethan burst from the portal, rage burning in his eyes, the black tattoos writhing under his skin. A monstrous roar erupted from his mouth, and he grabbed Sky in mid-flight, hurling him away. Sky smashed through several buildings, unable to slow himself, crashing through wall-after-wall until he was far out of sight.

"Whoa… you weren't kidding. Not only did he evolve like a freakin' Pokemon, but a super evil one," Allie took a step back.

"Yeah…" Tommy got a look at Brimstone. "And you've been fighting _that_?"

"Among other things."

"Well this day just sucks all around, doesn't it?"

"Pretty much. At least the weather's nice."

"I don't know," A familiar voice filled the air. Suddenly, a bright green drill erupted from beneath the ground, drilling a gaping hole in the landscape. From it, Mckayla emerged, wearing a green and black uniform and carrying a little girl. "I personally think it could use a little more green."

"Whoa… that's new," Allie smiled.

"Is that a GL ring?" Tommy gaped.

"It most certainly is," Kavita answered immediately, recognizing her father's ring.

"A Green Lantern," Darkseid's voice carried from Ethan's body, "What an interesting development. I suppose I should have foreseen such a thing; my intel stated that the Saunders girl possesses remarkable willpower."

Mckayla created a bicycle out of emerald energy, and placed Amy on it. "I want you to get out of here fast okay? Find your family. Tell them you're alright."

"Thank you," Amy nodded, escaping the area quickly.

"Alright," Mckayla cracked her knuckles. "I can finally play with the big boys. Time to kick some ass."

…

Quinton, Flo and Jesse snuck aboard the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, and were now fighting their way through legions of security drones. Flo used her water-weapons to cut down the opposition, slaying dozens at a time, while Quinton hacked and slashed with his Atlantean gauntlet and Jesse zoomed around the room disassembling the drones quickly.

"I get the feeling that I'm enjoying this way more than I should be," Jesse laughed, landing between two drones. Both aimed their cannons and prepared to fire. Jesse vibrated his molecules out of the physical plane, and the blasts sailed straight through his body, causing the drones to shoot each other. Both of them collapsed into smoldering piles of scrap.

"I'm glad one of us is," Flo morphed her weapon into a solid water hammer, striking an attacking drone down. Several droplets of water flung off of her weapon. She hardened them into ice daggers, and flung them into the head of a drone behind her. "How many more of these things can there be?"

"This is the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, it won't be guarded lightly," Quinton bashed a drone in the head with his gauntlet, destroying it. "We need to get to the cooling units, where they carry the Parademons in suspended animation. Jesse, can you do a clean sweep through the ship and figure out where that might be?"

"Give me a sec," Jesse blurred out of few. Moments later, he returned. "Ok, I just searched the whole ship. I can't read any of these directional signs, but as best as I can tell, the cooling unit should be right below us. However, there wasn't anyone around there… I don't think that's where it's controlled from."

"Ok," Quinton dropped another drone. "Jesse, Flo… I need you two to get down to the cooling unit and aim all of the vents toward Brimstone."

"What are you going to do?" Flo raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to get to the control room and do what I do best… save all your asses."

"Be careful," Flo grabbed him for a quick kiss, stabbing an attacking drone as she did so. "Don't get killed, ok?"

"Promise," Q smiled, kicking a drone behind her.

"Geez, the sexual tension in here just went through the roof. Why don't you smile just a bit more like a love-struck dope, and we'll see how fast I can choke on my own vomit?" Jesse shouted, dodging around several laser blasts.

"Jesse, if Flo gets killed, I'm putting it on you," Quinton called.

"Excuse me? You think I need him to protect me?" Flo laughed.

"Not at all. I would just need somebody to blame, and it's easy to stay mad at Jesse because he's always doing stupid things."

"Love you too buddy," Jesse kicked a drone as it flew toward him. "Now can we get on with this? I think you two should separate before Q starts leaking jiz from his nipples or something."

"What…?" Flo stared at Jesse with a look of semi-disgust.

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure that I work in a joke about male orgasmic lactation before I die."

"Quinton, promise me that if we have kids, your friend will _never _be exposed to them."

"Deal," Q nodded, "Now get going. I have a feeling they need us down below…"

…

Brimstone aimed his cannon, charging up for another blast, this one directed at Tommy. Just before the blast hit, a green force field went up around Tommy, created by Mckayla. The barrier shielded him from the blast.

"Thanks," Tommy nodded. "Don't suppose that ring works as well for offense as it does defense?"

"Let's find out," Mckayla reared back created a giant, emerald-green hammer on a chain, which she hurled at Brimstone. The weapon struck the monster and sent him stumbling backward. Mckayla began flying around Brimstone at light speed, and created an array of green rocket launchers. She fired off the projectiles, striking Brimstone from every angle. The creature roared, swatting at her violently. She dodged around his strikes and unleashed a stream of energy machine gun fire onto him, offsetting his balance.

"She's doing well," Kavita acknowledged.

"But all she's doing is pestering him. There's no actual damage to his armor," Chris pointed out.

"Allie, what was that plan you had in mind?" Tommy questioned.

"Ethan is absorbing energy, right? What if we could turn that against Brimstone, sap all the power out of him?"

"And supercharge Ethan with unstable nuclear power? Good plan, sis," Connor rolled his eyes.

"I'll admit, I was sort of self-prioritizing at the time," Allie sighed.

"It's better than nothing," Tommy reasoned. "If we can get Brimstone out of the picture, it'll be easier to handle Ethan. Especially now that the whole team is together… we'll have him drastically outnumbered."

"And it's a lot better than the other option…" Kavita grimaced.

"What's the other option?" Allie raised an eyebrow.

"Killing Ethan," Connor chimed in. "Which I'm perfectly willing to do, if push comes to shove."

"Hey, guys…" Chris looked around. "Where _is _Ethan?"

Suddenly, a scream erupted from the sky, and the group looked up to see Ethan flying toward Mckayla. She created an energy shield to block his attack, but Ethan simply absorbed it, draining the shield out of existence and continued his assault directly toward her.

"He wants to drain the ring!" Kavita's eyes bulged. "If that happens, he'll be unstoppable."

"All the more reason for me to take the shot," Connor glared at Tommy.

"Not yet."

"When? How long are we going to drag this out, Tommy?"

"Until there's no other option. And if you take that shot without my permission, I will make damn sure you regret it. Am I clear?" Tommy commanded, his gaze fixed firmly on Connor.

"Let's get clear on onething, Grayson… I'm only here because Corey wanted me to be here. And I'm going to honor his wishes. But I have no obligation to follow you. I'm perfectly happy to work with you, but I will never work _for _you. Got it?"

"Excuse me, I understand that you're both incredibly high on testosterone at the moment, but there's a fucking nuclear monster turning the city into a pile of ash, and on top of it our brainwashed teammate is trying to drain the power out of a super-weapon belonging to another teammate. So if you don't mind shutting the hell up and focusing, I'd really appreciate it," Allie glared at the two, and they both backed down immediately.

Up above, Ethan was quickly absorbing all of the constructs Mckayla threw at him, and soon had her pinned down. He was reaching for the ring, when suddenly a bright-blue blur tackled him, smashing him through the wall of a building. Ethan hit the floor hide, sliding through an old parking garage. Sky touched down before him, his eyes burning with heat vision.

"I was just getting ready to make my big, heroic sacrifice… and then you showed up and punched through _nineteen _buildings. Not cool, man." Sky, knowing that Ethan would only absorb his heat vision, didn't fire at him directly. Instead, he unleashed his heat vision on the surrounding pillars, causing the ceiling to collapse atop Ethan.

Within seconds, Ethan blasted himself free of the rubble and punched Sky across the street. Sky grabbed a light post and swung it like a bat, knocking Ethan down. The two flew into a super-fast slug fest, fists colliding with thunderous impacts.

"Sky!" Tommy called, "Get Ethan up in the air and keep him there."

"Easier said than done bro," Sky uppercutted Ethan, "He's every bit as strong as I am." As Ethan was knocked upward by the uppercut, Sky grabbed his ankle and jerked him upward, while simultaneously using his freeze breath to cascade Ethan's torso in ice. Holding Ethan in place high in the air, he yelled, "Do what you need to do… preferably fast!"

Tommy gave Allie a nod, and she fired one of her last two arrows, striking Brimstone in the head to get his attention. Brimstone turned to face them, and immediately began charging up his cannon. "Mckayla! Kavita! Go!" Tommy called.

Both girls flew by. Mckayla created several energy tendrils that wrapped around Brimstone's arm cannon, and Kavita morphed her sword into a steel lasso, also tying it around the cannon. Flying as hard as they could, the girls jerked Brimstone around so that his cannon was facing Sky and Ethan.

_"Nepo Latrop," _a portal appeared behind Sky, summoned by Zatina.

"That's my cue," Sky shoved Ethan forward and backed into the portal, and Zatina closed it behind him. The cannon fired, and Brimstone unleashed a wave of nuclear energy onto Ethan.

As expected, Ethan's body began to soak up the blast, rapidly absorbing the radiation. However, before all of the energy could be absorbed, Ethan pulled away from the blast, eyes glowing a fiery orange. "Thanks for the boost, idiots."

"That didn't sound like Darkseid talking…" Connor frowned.

"That's because Darkseid isn't controlling him at the moment," Fate said, performing a magic scan over Ethan's body. "I think he put this mind-controlling spell on autopilot or something… he's got Ethan programmed to kill us, but Darkseid isn't controlling the body anymore."

"But why…?" Tommy muttered.

"Why else?" Allie looked up at the Apokoliptian Mother Ship. "He's focusing on other things…"

"Wait, you don't think…" A look of horror appeared on Zatina's face.

"Yup," Tommy sighed, making sense of the equation. "Darkseid is in there with Quinton."

Before they could decide on a course of action, Ethan fired a bolt of energy that forced the group to scatter. The blast rocketed Allie into the air. As she sailed, she withdrew her last arrow, aimed it at Ethan's forehead and said, "Plan B."

She fired the arrow with incredible precision. It pierced Ethan's forehead like butter, and the rupture in his skin unleashed a powerful wave of pent up nuclear energy. Allie summersaulted out of the way, and the blast struck Brimstone's chest, blasting off the monster's armor.

With a mighty roar, Brimstone fell backward, his armor destroyed… and his reactor core now visible. "That's it," Allie spoke into her communicator, "We destroy that thing, Brimstone is out of the picture."

"Sky," Tommy activated his own communicator, "Can you keep Ethan busy a while longer?"

"My pleasure," Sky flew in at super speed and kicked the disoriented Ethan in the jaw, plowing him into the concrete. Cracking his knuckles, Sky said, "Round 3."

…

Quinton was quickly and efficiently working away at the control panel of the Apokoliptian Mother Ship, trying to get a handle on the controls. The language barrier made it difficult, but Quinton was picking up gradually on how all the systems worked.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting boom sounded behind him. One he had become all-too familiar with. A Boom Tube. Before Quinton could even react, a firm hand grasped him and flung him across the room. Quinton hit the wall with a painful collision and slumped onto the floor, moaning.

"Pity that such intelligence must be confined to such a weak body," Darkseid bellowed, arms folded behind his back."

"I'm pretty sure that was a compliment… so thank you," Quinton stood up slowly. "It's not often that a human has their intelligence complimented by Darkseid."

"It's not often that I am impressed by human intelligence," Darkseid stepped forward, "Which is what makes you an interesting case, Mr. Sage. I would like to extend my hand and offer you a position at the right seat of my throne."

"What's your benefits package like? Because my current position provides some pretty stellar health insurance."

"Spare me the humor and I may spare your life. Stand with me, and your riches will be infinite. You will be guaranteed safety, and will have high esteem as a scholar of Apokolips."

"Hmm… scholar of Apokolips. I'll lump that into the same category with 'Professional Butt Wiper' and 'Satan's Personal Prostitute" on the list of jobs I'm not particularly interested in doing."

"Very well," Darkseid's eyes began to glower, and he prepared to fire his Omega Beams. "Remember, you had a choice."

"And you have a choice, too, Darkseid. Surrender while you still can."

"You truly believe your friends can defeat me?"

"I know it for a fact. I've run this over hundreds of times, you see… accounting for thousands of different variables, going through innumerable mental simulations… and there is literally no scenario where you come out on top. Because we've already won, Darkseid. We've given humanity hope again. We've given them something to believe in. And you can kill me, and my friends, but there will be more. More will rise up against you, because now they know that they can."

"You attribute an unrealistic degree of perseverance to the human race. Once you are all dead, humanity will slump back into fear again."

"There's your weakness… you're _always _underestimating us. Kill, and intimidate and conquer all you want… but short of exterminating the entire human race, there's nothing you can possibly do to keep us down forever."

"Perhaps. But you won't live to see whether or not you are correct." Darkseid geared up to fire his Omega Beams, when suddenly, there was a tapping on the window. Darkseid turned around to see Connor Queen, a cocksure smile on his face.

"I have been waiting do this all day," Connor smiled, and without hesitation, fired off an arrow at Darkseid… an arrow with the Radion bullet as the tip.

The Radion arrowhead sunk easily into Darkseid's body, and he let out a cry of pain, clearly damaged by the blow. His body began to crack, and taking advantage of his moment of weakness, Quinton created a hard-water hammer using his Atlantean gauntlet and smacked Darkseid, knocking him into the far wall.

Quinton then sprinted for the control panel, limping from Darkseid's earlier strike, and began hammering away at the controls.

"What are you doing?" Darkseid roared.

"Setting this thing to self-destruct. I'm blowing you straight to hell."

…

Brimstone, now enraged, had gone berserk and struck back most of the heroes. Allie continued to dodge his attacks, but now that she had no arrows, she had no way of destroying the reactor core. She was far too weak to muster a sonic scream, and she couldn't keep dodging forever.

Brimstone fired. Allie leapt from the rooftop she was on, and the building disintegrated behind her. She reached out for the next ledge, but had misjudged her jump, and didn't reach far enough. Allie nearly screamed, realizing that she was falling to her doom, when a hand reached out from a window. Allie grabbed the hand out of impulse, stopping her fall. She looked up, breathing heavily, to see that it was Chris Magnus's cybernetic hand. Chris greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Come on Princess, get inside the castle," Chris hoisted her up into the window. It was an old apartment complex, and with Brimstone's every step, the building shook.

"We need to destroy that reactor core," Allie huffed.

"Yup," a solemn expression appeared on Chris's face.

"Chris… what's with that look?"

"You're out of arrows. We need to take Brimstone out."

"Chris, what are you getting at?"

Without another word, Chris transformed his body into a lead facsimile… and then molded himself into a rod shape.

"Chris, what the hell are you doing?"

"Lead absorbs radiation. I've turned myself into a dampening rod. I need you to fire me into Brimstone's core."

"Chris, that's insane! You'll be baked alive!"

"Which is why we only get one shot at this."

"Chris… no. I'm not going to-"

"Damn it, Allie! Can't you see that I want to do this? If we don't stop him, Brimstone is going to kill everything. He won't stop. He's programmed to kill, and it's all that he's capable of."

"Chris…"

"Do it. Please Allie… do it." Chris returned to human form for a moment, to give Allie a warm smile. "You were my friend. That's all I ever really wanted."

Allie, fighting back tears, took his hand. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

"Ok... but I need to get up higher. This isn't a proper vantage point."

"Let's do it. And Allie… thanks for being my friend."

"Of course."

Suddenly, Brimstone's leering gaze appeared in the window, and he fired a blast that decimated the side of the building. Intense heat washed over Allie, shrapnel flew into her skin, and she let out an agonized scream. The building immediately erupted in flame, and began to collapse around her.

Allie was knocked on her back by the blast, and looked up to see Brimstone lean back into a roar, exposing his reactor core clearly.

Covered in blood, sweat and ash, parts of her hair on fire, her clothing torn, tears streaming down her face, Allie loaded the dampening rod into her bow, steadying it like an arrow. She quickly took aim, and uttered the words, "Good night asshole." She fired, sending the lead dampening rod directly into the reactor core.

There was a flash, followed by a deafening explosion as the reactor core began to collapse in on itself. Brimstone roared again, but this time it was different… this time his scream was a terrified one. He had finally been harmed. Brimstone fell backward, toppling the landscape behind him, twitching and convulsing furiously. His chest exploded, unleashing a stream of light into the sky. And then the light was gone. The reactor core died, and Brimstone burned out. The monster was dead.

Allie, limping and clutching her arm, approached the gaping hole that Brimstone had blown into the wall of the apartment complex. Looking onto the destroyed body of the creature, she sighed, "And goodbye Chris."

However, the remnants of the core then began to glow, and a terrifying winding sound filled the air. "What…?" Allie gasped. "What's happening?"

Mckayla scanned the anomaly with her ring. "It… it appears to be some sort of failsafe! A bomb hidden inside of the reactor core, set to detonate when Brimstone is destroyed!"

"Shit…" Allie breathed. "Everyone clear the area! Now!"

…

Darkseid staggered to his feet, wounded by the Radion bullet but certainly not defeated. "Brimstone is down. You're wounded. And Ethan is outnumbered. There's still time for you to give up," Quinton offered.

"I am far from defeated, boy," Darkseid growled.

"In case you haven't noticed… we have a part-Amazonian bat-child with serious anger issues, a super-martial-artist archer chick with a kickass sonic scream, a Kryptonian, a redhead who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers, a Green Lantern, a second super-archer, a genius inventor with a cybernetic arm, a powerful sorceress, an Atlantean with mastery of water manipulation, a Thanagarian trained by _your _best soldiers, and me, a mere human who impressed even you with his intellect. What part of that makes you think that you can still win, Darkseid?"

A sinister grin crept onto Darkseid's face. "I still have an ace in the hole."

…

Ethan and Sky continued their brawl, duking it out and tearing the city apart. From the rooftops, Zatina and Mckayla watched. Zatina continued to magically scan over Ethan's body. "I'm not getting this… the energy controlling Ethan; I could _swear _it's a magical source. Since when does Apokolips use magic?"

"I wonder…" Mckayla created a pair of binoculars with her ring, and got a closer look at the marks on Ethan's skin. "Those weird tattoos on his body… do you think that's writing of some sort? It looks formulaic… several repeating symbols that appear to be structured… I think it's a language."

"It's definitely possible. Written incantations are often stronger than spoken ones," Zatina replied.

"The GL rings have a universal translator, right? If that's a language, then theoretically I should be able to decipher it."

"Go for it. I don't have any better ideas."

Mckayla aimed her ring carefully at Ethan, and willed it to translate his tattoos. The ring began to speak automatically; "Language Identified: Atlantean Script. Deciphering Now…"

"Atlantean…" Mckayla's eyes widened. "Oh no!"

"Bitch…" Zatina gasped, making sense of everything. "She must have put this controlling spell on him while she was scanning his body after he absorbed the Omega Beams!"

"We have to warn Quinton and Jesse."

…

Jesse and Flo had opened the hangar door of the Mother Ship, and had managed to direct all of the cooling units toward the defeated body of Brimstone. There were still high levels of radiation emitting from the monster, and cooling it down would be a necessity.

"Ok Q, we're ready for you to activate the cooling units," Jesse spoke into his communicator, but after waiting a moment, there was no response. "Q? Are you alright dude? What's going on up top?"

Suddenly, an automated voice sounded around them: **"Self Destruct Initiated. Please Evacuate the Vessel Hastily."**

"Well that doesn't sound good," Jesse frowned. "Flo, you wanna' go check on Q? See what's up?"

"No…" Flo looked down below. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Uh… are you ok?" Jesse looked at her for a long moment, but Flo was silent.

Suddenly, Jesse's communicator sounded with an urgent call from Zatina. "Hey babe," Jesse answered the call, "Did you just miss my voice, or-"

"Jesse, shut up! This is important!" Zatina demanded, "You're in danger!"

"We're all in danger. Like, all the time. Care to specify?"

"Jesse, Flo is the traitor!"

"What…?"

"That magic that I couldn't identify blocking Kavita's memories? It's Atlantean magic. Flo must have put a mental block in Kavita's mind while we were treating her wounds so that she couldn't remember who the traitor was! And the magical source controlling Ethan? Same thing. Those markings on him are Atlantean. She must have done it when she figured out he'd become a New God. It's Flo, Jesse. The traitor has been Flo this whole time."

"Crap…" Jesse turned around to see that Flo had disappeared. "Yeah, um… I just lost her."

"Where is Quinton?"

"Upstairs. He hasn't been answering his communicator."

"Jesse, you need to get to him fast!"

"No problem. Fast is what I do," Jesse sprinted off, heading for the stairs, when suddenly the ground beneath him became slick with water. He began to lose traction, and an electrical surge ripped through the water, tearing up through his body. Jesse hit the floor, and rolled just in time to avoid Flo's sword. "Quinton is going to be _so _pissed."

"Yeah," Flo pointed her sword at him. "Believe it or not, I really didn't want it to go this way."

"I figured. You've been subtly trying to convince us to surrender this whole time. Whenever we were in a dangerous situation, _you _were the one who suggested we give up. You were hoping none of us would have to die, weren't you?"

"I really was," Flo took a step forward. "But you're all too stubborn for that."

"You know, I never told Quinton this, because I didn't want to upset him…" Jesse zoomed in and kicked out Flo's legs, knocking her down, "But I always thought you were kind of a bitch."

"I know, I've been reading your minds this whole time."

"What…?"

"You didn't think my telepathy only worked on fish, did you?" Flo smiled, and suddenly a splitting wave of pain filled Jesse's head as she launched a telepathic assault. While he was disoriented from this, Flo took her sword and drove it straight through Jesse's abdomen. The blade exited his back, and blood spilled from the wound. "I really did like Zatina," Flo whispered, "If you survive the fall, be sure to tell her I'm sorry." Flo then kicked Jesse in the stomach, pushing him off of the blade… and out the hangar door.

Jesse began a free fall through the air, blood streaking behind him from his open wound. Flo didn't wait to watch him hit the ground. She turned and headed up the stairs. Slowly, she approached the control room, where Quinton looked at her in horror. A wounded Darkseid stepped behind her, grinning.

"No…" Quinton grit his teeth, hands shaking. "No. No. You're lying… she's not… Flo, you can't…"

"I'm so sorry, Quinton," Flo frown.

"Why?" Quinton screamed, tears threatening in his eyes. "What could possibly be worth it? What does Darkseid have to offer you that's betraying us? Worth betraying _me_?"

"I never betrayed any of you, Quinton. I was loyal to Darkseid from the beginning. That day Tommy snuck out of the cave, and almost drowned? I saved his life. You didn't think that was just coincidence, did you? That in the entire vastness of the ocean, I happened to be there when he hit the water? I was sent by Darkseid to investigate. And I found Tommy there. I was going to kill him, but Darkseid had other ideas… he knew that Tommy could lead him back to more League kids, and possibly even a few League survivors… like Dinah. So he had me put up a ruse. And once Tommy started building his team, I kept it up."

"It was all a lie? Your entire backstory? Everything you told us?"

"Atlantis was the first place that Apokolips invaded almost two decades ago. I was taken from my crib way back then. I grew up on Apokolips… I never even knew my parents."

"Damn it," Quinton muttered, "Damn it I'm so stupid! I should have figured it out. I should have been able to see it…"

"Actually, we knew you were a threat to the whole operation, Q. We knew that with your intellect, you'd figure it out. Fortunately, I had an easy way around that… you were attracted to me. I just had to play on that."

"Shut up."

"Once I made sure you were head-over-heals in love with me, I knew you wouldn't suspect a thing. Even if all the evidence was staring you right in the face, you'd never suspect me."

"Shut up!" Quinton took a step forward, rage filling his tear-soaked face.

"I'm really sorry Quinton. I never wanted it to be like this," Flo said with absolute sincerity. "I really didn't want you to get hurt."

"You did a pretty shitty job of that," Quinton extended the blade from his Atlantean gauntlet.

"Q, please don't."

"I'm not going to just _stand _here! If I have to fight you, so be it."

"Fine," Flo sighed, extending her swords. "Have it your way."

Quinton charged at her. Flo, having much superior speed, dodged his strike easily and jammed the hilt of her sword into his side, cracking a rip. She channeled an electric shock into his body, and delivered a devastating punch to his jaw. Quinton fell back against the control board, bleeding from his mouth.

"Please don't make me hurt you anymore, Q," Flo pleaded.

Quinton pressed a button on the control board, and pulled a lever. This activated the cooling units, and the machine activated, freezing Brimstone's body, including the last-resort bomb in his chest, just before it would have detonated.

Quinton then turned around and faced Flo stoically, spreading out his arms. "Kill me."

"Quinton…"

"I just stopped the bomb down below. This ship, however, is still rigged to explode in a few minutes. I'm not leaving here. Either I'll die in an explosion, or I'll die by your blade. Your choice. But I don't want to live anymore."

"Do it," Darkseid encouraged her from behind.

"I don't want to…" Flo lowered her blade.

"Do it and prove your loyalty!" Darkseid demanded.

"Haven't I proved enough?" Flo snapped, "I've done everything you've asked, I've betrayed the only people I ever considered friends, and-"

"And you have fallen in love with this boy," Darkseid growled.

"No I haven't. It was part of the act."

"Prove it then. Kill him here."

"But-"

"Kill him or you die with him!"

"Do it Flo," Quinton muttered, "Come on. It's not like I matter to you."

"Quinton please don't-"

"What, are you going to start making your own choices now?" Quinton spat, "What's the point? You've never thought for yourself before. Because at the end of the day… I fell in love with Darkseid's bitch."

Flo seemed genuinely hurt by this remark, but quickly wiped all emotion from her face. "Alright then," she conjured up all the moisture in the air, and created a tidal wave of water that struck Quinton violently in the torso, sending him flying through the window. Quinton, sliced up and bloodied by the glass, grabbed onto the ledge of the window with one hand. Flo walked up to the ledge, and looked down at him with an emotionless gaze. "Hope you weren't expecting a goodbye kiss…"

She stepped on his hand, breaking all of his fingers, and then kicked him down. Quinton fell down toward the Earth below. "Should I deal with the rest of them?" She asked.

"Not yet. We still have Ethan to keep them busy, and there is business for us on Apokolips," Darkseid clutched his wound from the Radion bullet. "I require healing."

"Fine," Flo said, sounding bitter. She opened a Boom Tube, and she and Darkseid disappeared into it together, moments before the ship exploded.


	26. Scars

**A/N Happy New Year, my dear readers. And what better way to kick the year off than with a new (and long overdue) chapter? It has been a while since I've updated, and this chapter picks up pretty much directly where the last one left off, so I thought I might give a quick recap of what happened last time; Flo was revealed to be the traitor, Ethan is being controlled by her, Mckayla became a Green Lantern, Alex and Troy formed a sort of alliance to take down Granny Goodness, and finally, Chris sacrificed his life by allowing Allie to fire him into the core of Brimstone, the nuclear monster, and destroy it. **

**So now that that's out of the way… enjoy!**

Chapter Twenty-Six: Scars

Jesse West allowed his eyes to flutter open slowly. The first thing he noticed upon regaining consciousness was an odd tingling sensation throughout his body. The second was a sharp pain in his chest. He looked at his hands and took note of a strange purple aura around his body, outlining him and producing a gentle, rhythmic hum. "What the hell?" He muttered weakly, examining his body to see that the aura completely covered him. He placed a hand on the wound at his chest where Flo had stabbed him, and found that it was almost completely healed, only a small puncture now. "Okay, even I don't heal that fast," he spoke aloud, looking around the room. It was dark, illuminated only by the purple glow around him. He could vaguely make out the filth-laden concrete walls of the room, covered in cracks and cobwebs.

A dead spider fell from its web and landed on Jesse's arm. The moment it touched the aura around his body, it healed, springing back to life, and began crawling around on his arm. Baffled, Jesse smacked the spider and killed it again. Once more, the aura revived it, and it continued to crawl. "And there you have it folks… a new threshold for freaky shit has been broken," Jesse attempted to stand, but found that his legs were bound to the thin mat beneath him, unable to move. "Maybe I'm dreaming…?"

"Nope," a familiar voice echoed, and the rotted-out wooden door creaked open. Zatina Blood stepped into the room, a smile on her face. "Not dreaming."

"Well I know that _now_," Jesse grinned, "If I were dreaming, you'd be naked."

"Sorry for the horror-movie lighting… not exactly a steady flow of electricity in this place," Zatina clapped her hands and uttered the words, _"nO Thgil." _On her command, the room filled with artificial light, a sort of magic light bulb materializing near the ceiling to brighten the surrounding area. "Much better."

"You're getting good at that whole magic thing," Jesse smiled. "Hey, speaking of dreams, I had this crazy one while I was passed out… it took place in old-timey London, and I was a mummy, but like, a sexy one. And then I joined this Korean pop band and I had this school girl uniform, and-"

"Jesse."

"Yeah?"

"Stop talking, dear."

"Sorry," the speedster gave her his famous half-grin, and then looked once more at the aura bathing his body. "So… what's this?"

"Medical Stasis Aura. It accelerates your natural healing process. And since your natural healing process is _already _accelerated… your wound closed up in about twenty minutes. I just kept you unconscious because I figured you could use the rest."

"Well, thanks."

"No problem. I'm not as good with the medical stuff as Flo but… well… I guess I'm going to have to learn now, huh?"

"Crap, Flo…" Jesse frowned, "Did she get away?"

"Yup. She and Darkseid both. Darkseid was wounded, though. Connor got him with the Raidon bullet."

"Damn. How's Q?"

"Q," Zatina's gaze dropped, and she breathed a deep sigh. "Jesse… about Quinton."

"What about Quinton? Is he okay?"

"He's… gone."

"Gone?" Jesse's eyes widened, "Gone how? What do you mean 'gone?' He can't just be gone!"

"After that ship he was in exploded… we never found him. Sky spent hours looking for a body among the rubble with his x-ray vision. All of us dug around, looking for _something_. But… we don't think he made it out of that explosion, Jesse. I'm sorry."

Jesse sat silently for a long time, a contemplative look on his face; as if he were trying to comprehend the information that had been given to him. "No," he finally said in a voice so low that it was barely audible. "He's alive. Somewhere. He has to be."

"I hope so, Jess. I hope so."

"Can't you just conjure up some magic person-finder spell?"

"I've tried. Nothing is resonating."

"Maybe he's too far out of range…"

"He managed to make it out of the range of near-limitless magical power, while wounded, within the course of a couple hours? Jesse…"

"I get it, Z. I'm not stupid," Jesse lowered his gaze, "Just hopeful."

"And that's what I love about you," she pulled him into a hug. "And hey, at least there's a chance he's still out there… not like Chris…"

"What do you mean? What happened to Chris?"

"He sacrificed himself to destroy Brimstone. He morphed himself into a lead dampening rod, and Allie fired him right into Brimstone's reactor core," Zatina pulled back from the hug, keeping her eyes level with Jesse's. "He didn't make it. We're having a funeral later."

"So Chris is dead, Quinton's MIA, Flo betrayed us, Ethan's being mind-controlled, Corey is dead, Troy betrayed us, and nobody knows what the hell is up with Alex… we're dropping like flies. That's eight of us, Z. Eight of us out of the picture now."

"Yeah… I know."

"This sucks. For the first time in my life, I have friends, and now I get to watch them die one at a time? Bullshit. It's just like Jessica all over again…"

"When are you going to let Jessica go?" Zatina tightened her grip on Jesse's arm, "You've been dwelling on her death your whole life, Jesse. What happened to your sister wasn't your fault, you need to realize that."

"I do realize that. But that doesn't make it hurt any less."

"We've all gotten hurt," Zatina laced her fingers through Jesse's, holding his hand tightly. "And we all have our own ways of dealing with it. You make jokes about it, Tommy writes about it in his journal, Allie channels the frustration into sarcasm…"

"What do you do?"

"I talk to you," Zatina smiled, "And you always find some way to brighten my day." She leaned in and kissed Jesse. They held it for a long moment, but suddenly he pulled back, an exasperated look on his face.

"I… I should be out looking Q."

"Jesse, we searched for hours…"

"But _I _didn't. I wouldn't feel right about it if I didn't at least try."

"Okay," Zatina lowered her eyes, seeming disappointed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just… we never get any time to ourselves."

"Well…" A grin appeared on Jesse's face, "I _am _the fastest man alive." He laid back on the mat, pulling her down with him. "I suppose I should be able to make a _little _time."

…

"It's not the nicest place we've taken refuge, but it'll work for the time being," Mckayla sighed, the dim green glow of her ring illuminating the small, collapsed area beneath the streets of Central City.

"Darkseid has literally driven us into a hole. Wonderful," Connor grumbled, kicking a chunk of debris.

"We couldn't risk going back to the Clock Tower. Darkseid probably has a squad just waiting for us to show up there," Tommy reasoned.

"We made a serious dent in Apokoliptian power today. Not only did we destroy a large portion of their forces, but we wounded Darkseid himself. He isn't going to let us rest anymore, he sees us as a threat now and he won't let up until we're all dead," Kavita pointed out. "We shouldn't stay in any one place for too long. We need to keep moving and not leave a trail."

"But we need some sort of plan first," Tommy argued. "We can't just charge on blindly. We're all wounded, embarrassingly low on equipment and weapons, our roster has been nearly cut in half and some of us are still sick from exposure to Brimstone's radiation."

"Well you're supposed to be the big brilliant leader," Connor spat, approaching Tommy. "How about you make us a plan instead of bitching about how we don't have one?"

"Connor," Allie grabbed her half-brother by the sleeve, "Stop. There's no sense in us fighting each other."

"Listen Connor," Tommy spoke softly, "I know that you don't think I deserve to lead this team. I know you're allegiances still lie with Corey, and you don't think I'm worthy to fill in for him. And you know something? I agree with you. But Corey is gone now. And with his dying breathe, he asked me to take over his team. If you have any respect for him at all, you'll honor that wish."

"I've been trying… and look how it's worked out so far. The first mission you led us on, and Chris died. The rest of us _almost _died. I don't know what Corey saw in you that made him think you were right for the job… but I don't see it, Grayson." Connor turned around to face Allie and said, "You should lie back down. You're still sick."

"I'm fine Connor," Allie argued.

"You got up close and personal with Brimstone. You absorbed more radiation than any of us."

"He's right," Tommy took a step forward. "It can take a while for symptoms of radiation poisoning to manifest. You need to try and rest, keep your body strong."

"Fine…" Allie sighed. She ran a hand through her hair, and chips of ash, grime and blood came tumbling out. "But I'm taking a bath first. Mckayla said there was a pool with some relatively clean water near the end of this tunnel."

"Yeah, follow me. I'll show you," Mckayla took off down the dark tunnel, using her ring to create a green flashlight. She motioned for Allie to follow.

Allie looked over her shoulder at Kavita and asked, "You want to come along?"

"No thanks," Kavita shook her head. "After Flo messed with my mind and obstructed my memories, I don't really want to be submerged in water for a while."

"Good point," Allie shuddered a little, and then followed Mckayla down the tunnel.

As the two girls disappeared from view, the door on the far left creaked open and Jesse and Zatina stepped out into room. "Jesse's awake," she announced.

"And as good looking as ever," the ginger-headed speedster added, blurring into view next to her. "We got any food in this place? Fighting all day and then healing from a fatal stab wound in twenty minutes really works up an appetite."

"No, we don't have food," Kavita muttered. "Or any supplies for that matter."

"I'm working on that," Tommy folded his arms, thinking for a moment. "Z, how about a stealth mission?"

"Ooh, sounds exciting," Zatina's eyes flashed with a brief purple glow. "What do you have in mind?"

"Yes Tommy, please tell us the master plan you're about to pull out of your ass," Connor rolled his eyes.

"We need to get our numbers back up. Ethan, Flo, Troy, Chris, Quinton and Alex are all gone. The seven of us remaining don't have the firepower to take on Apokolips now."

"I disagree," Connor chimed in. "I shot Darkseid with that Radion bullet. He's wounded. If we can get to Apokolips before he has a chance to heal, we can take him down in his weakened state and end it there."

"Except that he still has an army of monsters, drones, advanced tech, traps, warriors _and _a brainwashed New God at his disposal," Tommy retorted. "And we barely have any supplies left. Going to Apokolips now would be a suicide mission."

"What do you suggest then?" Connor snapped.

"That's what I was getting at before you interrupted me," Tommy scowled, then looked away from him. "We need more firepower behind us. We need Kio and Prome."

"The Cadmus Kids?" Jesse frowned, "They're like, nine. Doesn't bringing them into this seem a bit irresponsible?"

"They're already in it, Jesse. And by neglecting them membership, we've just been putting them in more danger. If they're with us, at least we can keep an eye on them. And frankly, having the power of Firestorm on our side sounds promising right now. He could be our countermeasure to Ethan."

"So you want to recruit Kio and Prome… where do I come in?" Zatina inquired.

"We left them at the Clock Tower; they needed to rest after their Firestorm transformation. Darkseid no doubt has the Clock Tower crawling with guards by now, but Parademons aren't too smart… with any luck, they haven't found the infirmary yet. I was hoping you'd be able to get in, pull them out and get back here without drawing too much attention."

"Absolutely not," Jesse cut in. "You are not sending her into a trap by herself. No way."

"I'll do it," Zatina smiled.

"Did you not hear what I just said? I don't want you to go alone."

"Then come with me."

"Z… you do realize this is a stealth op?" Jesse frowned, "I don't exactly have the best track record with those."

"Hmm…" Zatina grinned, "Just a second." She put her hand to Jesse's mouth and uttered the words, "_hceeps sih leaS."_

Suddenly, Jesse's mouth contorted and morphed into a long zipper. Enraged, a fierce muttering sounded emerged from his throat. Laughing, Zatina unzipped his mouth and allowed him to speak. "-the hell! That is not okay at all!"

"Now I can shut you up when I need to," She smiled.

"If you were literally anyoneelse, I'd punch you for this." Jesse then looked around the room and noticed the absence of a certain blonde Kryptonian. "Where's Sky?"

"He's…" Tommy sighed, "He's out finding us a burial site. For Chris."

"Oh…" Jesse looked down at his feet, "_Just _Chris?"

"Yes Jesse, just Chris. We aren't giving up on Quinton, I promise."

"Should we get going?" Zatina asked, hoping to change the subject. She wanted to keep Jesse's mind off of his missing friend as much as possible.

"Whenever you're ready," Tommy nodded.

"You up for this zippy?" Zatina flashed Jesse a smile.

"Not funny," Jesse grumbled, playing with the zipper she'd conjured over his mouth.

Zatina turned to the nearest doorway, the one she and Jesse had emerged from a few moments ago, and placed her hand on the rickety, decaying wooden door. _"Rewot kcolc ot latrop: Nepo!"_

A bright wave of violet-colored energy flashed over the doorway. She turned the doorknob and pulled it open… and the doorway now led directly to the fields nearby the Clock Tower, over a hundred miles from their current location. "That is crazy," Jesse shook his head.

"Space-time magic. I can use doorways to create a special warp that shortcuts me to any desired location, as long as-"

"Z, please don't explain it. I already have a headache."

"Sorry," Zatina reached over and zipped Jesse's mouth shut. "Game on, dear."

Zatina looked back to the others and said, "Wish us luck." Jesse murmured something through his zipper that sounded like "Cushy duck." The two then vanished through the doorway, Zatina closing the portal behind her.

…

Jesse and Zatina crouched atop a high hill about half a mile from the Clock Tower. _"Mooz Noisiv," _Zatinacast, magically willing her eyes to zoom in on the Clock Tower, scanning the building carefully from afar. "There doesn't appear to be anyone outside… it looks just like we left it."

"Trap," Jesse said after unzipping his mouth. "They make the outside look abandoned to give us a false sense of security, hoping we'll just stroll in unsuspectingly."

"Well…" Zatina smiled, "That's just what we'll do."

"Um… Z, I like this adventurous side of you and all, but that's the opposite of a good idea."

"Just watch," Zatina held out her hand, focused a large quantity of magic and recited the backwards incantation, _"Egami Rorrim."_

Suddenly, two perfect replicas of Jesse and Zatina manifested before them, standing stiffly, as if awaiting a command.

"What the hell? You cloned us?" Jesse waved his hand before his nonresponsive clone's face, "And they're brain dead, apparently."

"They have no consciousness of their own; they just obey backwards commands… sort of like three-dimensional mirror reflections. Watch," Zatina waved her hand and uttered, _"Mpuj Eciwt." _Without hesitation, the two clones jumped twice, and then returned to their stiff, perfectly postured positions.

"I can't tell if that's awesome or terrifying," Jesse grinned.

"Now…" Z waved her hand again, _"Gnidliub eht reten dna rood eh ot klaw."_

Both clones turned and began to walk at an even pace toward the Clock Tower. "They're going to go inside through the front entrance," Zatina explained, "That will draw the attention of the guards inside. I'll make us invisible and we'll slip in the back, while they're distracted, and snatch Kio and Prome from the infirmary."

"Assuming they're still in there," Jesse frowned. He then knelt into a running position and said, "Let's get moving, the faster we get out of here, the faster I can start looking for Quinton."

…

Chris's funeral pyre was lit, sending pillars of mournful smoke into the night sky. The pyre had been carefully assembled from fallen timbers found in the most remote section of the woods that Sky could find. "I ran an aerial sweep over the perimeter, didn't find any Apokoliptian presence… I figured this was as good a place as any," Sky said sullenly, watching the fire with an absent minded expression. The remaining members of the team stood circled around the blaze, a solemn atmosphere among them; Tommy, Allie, Connor, Mckayla, Kavita and Sky.

Allie stood silently, the flames reflecting in the tired, weary gaze of her emerald eyes. She was sleep deprived and weak from her battle with Brimstone, starving and cold, covered in dirt, ash and dried blood, her clothing tattered and burned. Gently, she felt Tommy wrap his jacket around her torso. The leather reeked of sweat and smoke, but it was warm nonetheless. "You don't have to..." Allie began to give the jacket back, but Tommy stopped her.

"You're already in bad shape, the last thing you need is a cold," he reasoned. "It isn't much… it's dirty and smells like fried ass, but-"

"Thank you."

"Yeah. No problem."

"I should probably find some place to scavenge for clothing… the last of mine was pretty much incinerated by a walking Cold War threat."

"That's okay, you're hot when you're on fire."

"Thomas Grayson, did you just make a joke? Did it hurt?!"

"More than you can possibly imagine."

The two laughed, but it was immediately followed by a long, awkward silence. With a thankful nod, Allie turned back to the fire. She wanted to cry; Chris had died right before her eyes, Quinton was missing and possibly dead, Flo had betrayed their trust... she had every reason to cry. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. It required far more energy than she had to give. She'd been internally deadened to loss; the sadness was present, she recognized it well, but she didn't _feel _it. It just sat there, festering inside of her chest, impossibly heavy yet entirely dormant. "You think Jesse and Z are doing okay on their own?"

"I think they can handle themselves," Tommy said with a slightly forced amount of confidence. "She's so timid that it's easy to forget Zatina is probably the strongest one of us. And Jesse… well, he never ceases to amaze, in his own special way."

"I hope so," Allie sighed, "I just don't want to lose anyone else."

"Allie, are you okay?" Tommy asked, studying her carefully. "You're kind of hard to read right now."

"None of us are okay," Allie answered softly, automatically, almost entirely devoid of feeling.

"But you're usually the one trying to fix that."

"Guess I'm just a bit jaded after all this."

"Join the club."

"Things are really bad, Tommy." Allie stared ahead, the fire dancing behind her eyes.

"I know."

"Chris asked me to fire him into the core of that monster... he destroyed it. And he died in the act. Right before he died... do you know what he said?"

"What?"

"He said... 'Thanks for being my friend.'"

"It meant a lot to him, Allie. There weren't many people who Chris really connected with, other than you."

"Yeah. And then he died."

"Allie-"

"And mom died. And Quinton's gone. Why is it that everyone I care about... everyone I ever get close to... always end up getting hurt?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Tommy managed a smile, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah..." Allie lowered her gaze, "That's what scares me."

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"You can't promise that. None of us can."

"Allie," Tommy grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I promise."

"We should head back to the collapsed tunnel," Connor suggested, "We can't stay out in the open too long. Especially not with a fire going, it's a beacon to Apokoliptian scouts."

"He's right," Kavita agreed, "When I was working with the Furies, we were trained to seek out fires during tracking missions. More often than not it leads to the target."

"Sky, put out the fire," Connor said, turning away.

"Wait…" Mckayla held up her hands, "We should leave it… its Chris."

"What if they see it burning and track us from here?" Connor argued, "We need to put it out."

"It's Chris," Mckayla repeated. "How about showing some respect for our friend?"

"I'm going to respect him by _not _dying for him," Connor shoved his hands into his pockets. "There's nothing meaningful about the fire, Mckayla. It's his body. It's nothing but a collection of atoms."

"Connor," Allie said in a small voice, "Leave it burning. We'll cover our tracks. Just… let it keep burning."

Connor was quiet for a moment, looking at his half-sister with an expression that seemed to blend frustration and admiration. "Okay," he said, "Let's get going."

As the group turned and began heading back toward the tunnel they'd crawled from, Allie grabbed Tommy and whispered, "Thanks for not getting involved in that… I don't like it when you and Connor fight."

"I know," Tommy managed a small grin, "That's why I kept my mouth shut."

**...**

Jesse and Zatina stood outback, behind the Clock Tower, and listened for the moment when the commotion would start. Suddenly, the sound of blasters firing roared through the air. "That's our cue," Zatina grinned.

"How long will those clones be able to hold their own?" Jesse asked.

"Well I didn't instruct them to fight back so… not long. We have to get in and get out quick," Zatina harnessed her magic, her eyes flashing purple and called out, _"Elbisivni su ekam."_

A flash of magic washed over the two of them, and they became invisible to the eyes of everyone but themselves. "This will only shield us from natural vision, not radar detection, so be careful," she warned.

"Careful is my middle name," Jesse grinned.

"I thought your middle name was Rudolph?"

"You hear that, Z? That's the sound of sarcasm flying right over your head."

"Sarcasm is the refuge of a cynical mind,"

"And cynicism is the bulwark of an intelligent man."

"I've never heard that one before…"

"That's because I made it up just now. Sounded smart, huh?"

"You're damn right it did. Now get behind me, I'm going to warp a portal right into the basement level of the tower."

"Hang on," Jesse put his hand in front of her; "You've shown off your magic plenty today. I'll get us into the basement. Take my hand."

"What are you-"

"Just take my hand."

"Okay…" Zatina sighed, taking his hand in hers.

"Alright, this is going to feel like you swallowed a jackhammer, but it's actually kind of fun." Jesse began to vibrate at high speeds, channeling the kinetic energy into Zatina as well. Phasing their molecules fast enough to slip through solid objects, Jesse dove through the brick wall, taking Zatina with him, and phased them directly through the floor on the opposite side, touching down in the basement level of the Clock Tower.

"Holy crap…" Zatina fell back against the wall, remarkably dizzy and worried she might throw up.

"You okay?" Jesse asked, simultaneously checking the surrounding area to make sure the basement was free of guards.

"You do that on a regular basis?" Zatina gasped, trying to regain her balance. "It feels like every atom in my body just went through a paint shaker!"

"You get used to it," Jesse shrugged.

"I certainly hope so," she clutched her scalp in an effort to keep her vision in line. "Whoa…"

"What?"

"Do, um… do you like, have orgasms when you do that?"

"Uh, no…"

"Oh… well, me neither…"

"Okay then," Jesse stifled a laugh. "Which way is the infirmary again?"

"Left corridor, I think."

"Let me run a quick check, make sure the way is safe." Jesse sprinted at supersonic speeds down the corridor, finding no enemies present. All of the guards must have gone upstairs to battle their clones.

Spying the doorway, Jesse blurred into the infirmary, making a quick check to ensure there were no threats around. "Looks clear," he called back to Zatina, "I'll be here waiting for you."

Jesse found a light switch, needing more visibility, and flicked it on. He looked to the center of the infirmary, at the two empty pods, both broken open. Kio and Prome were gone. "Damn it…" he muttered, "Parademons must have already gotten to them."

Suddenly, a hatch on the ceiling began to wobble, being forcibly pulled open. Jesse, knowing he was invisible, remained totally still, careful not to make a sound. The hatch tore open, and two Parademons came crawling in… followed by Flo.

Jesse bit his lip, using all his strength to force himself not to scream. Entering the room right before was the traitor, Flo Curry. She wore Apokoliptian clothing; tight-fitted black armor, which revealed her naval but provided ample protection for the majority of her body.

Zatina began to enter the room, still under her invisibility spell, and Jesse quickly blurred behind her, cupping her mouth. As lightly as possible he breathed, _"Shhh."_

At first Zatina was confused, but then caught sight of the rest of the room's occupants and understood. The two stood silently, watching Flo and the Parademons search the infirmary.

"Where are they?" Flo asked, sounding frustrated.

_"Are they looking for us?" _Zatina thought, _"No, they wouldn't have known that the two they killed were clones, would they?"_

"Where did they go?" Flo created a torrent of water, drawing the moisture from the air in the room, and flung it on like a tidal wave, smashing all of the tables and beds that littered the room. Flo sighed, looking around a moment, and then pressed a button on the gauntlet of her armor. A holographic projection of Darkseid appeared. Darkseid was clearly wounded, sitting slouched back in his throne, the wound from the Radion bullet clear on his chest.

"Report your progress," Darkseid demanded.

"The Cadmus projects, Khione and Prometheus, are both gone."

"Then the _heroes _have already gotten to them?"

"I don't think so, Lord Darkseid. We've had the perimeter tightly monitored for days, and we just moments ago ambushed Jesse West and Zatina Blood. We took them out before they even had time to fight back."

Zatina smiled, feeling good about herself, that she had been able to fool Flo with her clones, at least for the time being.

"This news does not reassure me," Darkseid scowled. "If Thomas Grayson and his team have not recovered the experiments, and they are not where you left them, then where might they be?"

"I don't know sir," Flo said sheepishly, "It is possible that they awoke and escaped on their own. I'll deploy a tracking team to search the surrounding one-hundred mile radius and try to find them."

"I want those children found," Darkseid said, the hint of a threat in his voice. "Together they harness the power of Firestorm, a power which could prove threatening if allowed to fall into the hands of our enemies."

"Understood Lord Darkseid, I will see to it that the children are found," Flo ended the transmission, and then looked around the room one last time. She looked to the two Parademons that had escorted her and commanded, "Tear this room apart for any traces they might have left behind."

Flo then climbed back up the ladder, disappearing through the hatch. The two Parademons stayed behind and began clumsily searching the room for traces of Kio and Prome.

One of them walked up mere inches away from Jesse, breathing directly in his face. Jesse cringed at the monster's breathe, and it was all he could do to not gag. Tears welled in his eyes as his senses were assaulted by the stench. He clenched his fists, forcing himself to keep quiet. After several minutes of breathing in Jesse's face, the Parademon turned around and began looking around on the other side of the room.

Jesse released a long, silent breathe, and he and Zatina moved quickly but quietly back down the corridor, out of the room. They did not speak until they were back outside, back behind the Clock Tower.

"They don't have Kio and Prome either," Jesse said.

"I know," Zatina nodded, "That's good news, right?"

"Probably…" Jesse shrugged, "I mean, yeah it's good that they haven't fallen into Darkseid's hands, but that raises the question… where are they really?"

"We'll have to consult with the others, draw up some ideas as to where they might have gone."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Jesse nodded. "Let's get back to the others, tell them what happened."

…

_Haven't had much time to write lately, with everything going on. Friends dying, disappearing, betraying… we're hungry, tired, weak, wearing thin. Maybe I could have prevented some of this. I should have lead better. I shouldn't have split us up, should have put more effort into uncovering the traitor before it was too late… this isn't the first time I've let this happen. Alex, Troy, Flo… all of them managed to play me like a fool, working to their own ends right under my nose… maybe Connor's right. Maybe I don't have what it takes to lead this team._

_ But who could replace me? Connor's too brash, too quick to go to extremes. Allie's has the opposite problem; she's too compassionate, she could never make the necessary calls. Jesse wouldn't be able to take it seriously enough, he'd turn it into a game in his mind like he does everything else. Zatina's too timid, too reclusive. Mckayla's like Connor, too drastic. Sky is… Sky, that's all there is to say about that. And Kavita could do it, but the team doesn't trust her enough… she hasn't been around us for very long, and she has a history with Apokolips, the team wouldn't feel comfortable with her in charge._

_ No… it has to be me. I have to own up to this. I have to learn from my mistakes. I have to do better. We're weaker than we've ever been now, but at the same time, we're stronger. There are no more secrets, no more fears of betrayal, no more wondering who's really on your side. Those of us who are still in this… we're in it together, and Darkseid knows that. It's got him terrified. He pulled out all the stops in Central City, because he didn't plan on us leaving there alive. He revealed his traitor, he revealed his control over Ethan, he attacked us with Brimstone and even showed up in person… he planned on that being our final stand. We surpassed his expectations. We beat him yesterday. We took heavy loss on our side… but we won the battle. And now we're on to win the war._

_Thomas Grayson_

_July 1__st__, 2029_

Tommy closed the journal, leaned his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and allowed his mind to wander for the first time in almost a year. But letting his mind wander was no great adventure; he already knew where it would go. "Allie…" he sighed. _I need to find her. She's at the end of her rope, I can tell. She's got a strong will, but under all this pressure, I can see it breaking. She'd be there for me… I need to be there for her. _

He got up from the dark, solitary corner he had found and began to walk down the collapsed corridor, vaguely conscious of the fact that it could collapse at any moment. He didn't know where she was, and he certainly didn't know his way through the tunnels. But he'd become so hardened against danger that the prospect of being lost in a dark, dangerous tunnel almost seemed inviting to him.

Down the tunnel, he could faintly hear water splashing. _Well, that's either her or the tunnel's going to flood and drown all of us_, he thought. He followed the sound, hearing it gradually grow more audible as he navigated the vast network of tunnels. Finally, he stepped out into a more open section of the catacombs, filled with water. The first relatively clean water he'd seen since leaving the Justice Cave eight months prior.

In the center of the pool was Allie Queen, having come to wash some of the blood and ash off of her body. She came up for air gracefully, her platinum blonde hair clean for the first time in weeks.

At that moment, it occurred to Tommy for the first time that he had just walked in on her naked. His mind immediately filled with discomfort, and he tried vanishing from sight before she noticed him. Unfortunately, Allie had been trained every bit as well as him, and was remarkably difficult to sneak up on. The moment he took a step backward, she was aware of his presence and spun around, letting herself sink deeper into the water to cover her body. "Tommy?"

"Uh… sorry, I, uh… I'll leave…" he stammered, remaining in one place.

"Okay… you'll leave… when?" Allie grinned.

"Oh, yeah, uh… now? Now."

"Wait, was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Huh?"

"I was just wondering if you had a reason for coming down here before you went brain dead," she smiled, moving to the edge of the pool and propping her arms up on the concrete at his feet.

"I just… wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed a bit, I don't know… _off_, earlier."

"Well, Sunshine, some of us actually try and cope with loss and sadness rather than just shoving it in a metaphorical bottle and throwing it on the pile of pent up feelings."

"So… you're okay, then?"

Allie laughed, rolling her eyes. "It's really cute watching you try and understand how the emotions of normal people work, you know that?"

"Shut up Allie," Tommy gave an exasperated laugh. "Besides, I'd hardly describe you as normal."

"Well, you've got a point there."

"Yeah, um… could you, maybe, put some clothes on please?"

"Tommy, we were raised together; it's not like you've never seen me naked before."

"Yeah but... not since we were like, six. Its… you know… different now."

"Alright, hold on," Allie motioned for Tommy to turn around. Facing the wall, he could hear her climb out of the pool and walk casually toward where she'd discarded her clothes. After about a minute he heard her say, "Okay, my modesty is once again preserved."

Tommy turned around and saw that she'd slipped his jacket over her body, zipping it up. It was big enough on her that it covered everything down to her thighs. "It's the only piece of clothing I currently possess that isn't torn up and charred," she shrugged.

"That's fine," he said, burying the awkwardness in his voice. He wanted to say that it looked good on her, but couldn't quite bring himself to it. "So… I'm not really good at this…"

"What?"

"You know, opening up… talking to people about things."

"Tommy, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she smiled, sitting at the ledge of the pool, dipping her feet into the water. "Yeah, I'm sad that Chris is dead, and I'm freaking out over Quinton being gone, I'm tired, and I'm starving and I'm even scared. But if I weren't capable of dealing with that, I wouldn't have even made it this far."

"Yeah… I guess," Tommy sat down next to her. "I just kind of rely on you to brighten my day. And I really don't like seeing you sad."

"I promise to never steal your thunder ever again, Sunshine. From now on, you have a monopoly on broody, depressed demeanors."

"See? This is what I mean. Who else could be so delightfully sarcastic?"

"It's a defense mechanism that one develops out of necessity when she grows up with people like you and Quinton," she smiled. "He was always pissed off and reading, and you were always pissed off and punching things."

"Wow… not much has changed."

"Not at all," she laughed. Then a more serious expression appeared on her face. "Do you think he's alright?"

"Q?" Tommy grinned, "Of course he's alright. He's Quinton Sage. If anybody could figure out a way to survive an explosion, it's him."

"I don't want a forced reassuring answer, Tommy. I don't need you to patronize me, I just need you to tell me the truth… do you think he's okay?"

Tommy sat for a moment, quiet. "I don't know," he said finally. "I want him to be okay. But I don't know."

"I'm surprised Jesse isn't more freaked out over it."

"Jesse has his own way of dealing with things. He'll write it off as a joke because that makes it less stressful for him."

"Yeah…" Allie smiled, laughing a little.

"What is it?"

"It's just… we all know each other so well, with all the shit we've been through together. We know each other's ins and outs, what makes us all tick…" she moved her hand carefully to his, meeting his fingertips with hers, "And yet we have this baffling inability to actually articulate anything important to one another."

"Well, we've all sort of been programmed with trust issues, the way we had to grow up. And knowing there was a traitor in the group didn't help that at all."

"Flo… last person I ever would have suspected. Well, second last, after you."

"Really? You would have suspected Flo over me?"

"Of course, Sunshine. I can always tell when you're lying."

"Good to know," Tommy grinned, looking down at his reflection in the water. "She caught all of us off guard. Flo was the perfect example of a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"I'm going to kill her."

"You sound awfully confident about that…"

"I am. She deserves it. After what she did to us… _especially _Quinton… she deserves it. Next time we see her, I'm going to kill her."

"No you won't."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. I can always tell when you're lying."

"Not funny."

"Not trying to be. You couldn't do it, Allie. I have no doubt that you'd hurt her, probably make her _want _to die… but you wouldn't go all the way. You'd find something in her eyes that would stop you."

"Tommy-"

"No, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. That's why I love you, you can always find something good in everyone, even if they themselves can't see it. You-"

"What did you just say?"

"…I said you have a knack for seeing the good in people."

"No, before that."

"I said that's what I love about you."

"No, that's not what you said."

"It is to."

"No, you said, 'that's why I love you.' That's different."

"Is it?"

"Yeah," she leaned in closer, "It is."

"I, um… I don't really understand why…"

"This is why." Carefully, she leaned in and kissed him. Tommy was caught off guard at first, but made no attempt to resist. After a few seconds of processing the situation in his mind, he was kissing her back. Finally, she pulled away, blushing. "Get it now Sunshine?"

"Not quite…" he whispered, "Why don't you explain it to me again?"

Allie laughed, a bit of nervousness weighing in her voice. A smile on her face, she grabbed Tommy and shoved him into the pool. Just as he came up for air, she jumped into the water and tackled him back under. The jacket came floating up to the surface.

The two rose from the water in the midst of a deeper, more aggressive kiss. Within the following minutes, Tommy's shirt came off. She pressed him against the far wall of the pool, her fingernails digging into his back, and broke their kiss to look up at his face, trying to judge his reactions. He proved difficult to read, as usual.

"Have you wanted to do that as long as I have?" She whispered.

"Only if you've wanted to since we were twelve."

"Hmm… I've got you beat," she grinned, "I wanted to at eleven."

"But I'm older than you… I was probably twelve by then, so technically we're tied," he grinned back.

"Fine, Tommy, you win," she rolled her eyes. She ran her fingers tentatively down his chest, feeling the mosaic of scars that decorated his body. He seemed to have more scars than he had skin; each of them a sign, a reminder of an old battle. She ran a hand down his back, finding the roughness of scar tissue present there as well. _He takes so much pain_, she thought. _How does he live through it all?_

"You have them too," he whispered, as if he were reading her mind. It was true; Allie had no small share of scars to her name. Most notably were the wide gashes on her back, from her whipping at the hands of her torturers at The Hole. And then there was the freshly scarred gash on her stomach, where Troy had stabbed her. "I can never forgive him for that," Tommy said, running his hand gently down the scar, and then on to her hips.

"Let's not talk about him," she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "He's just another scar I'd rather forget about."

"I kind of like the scars," Tommy said, running a hand down her back. "They make us who we are. They show what we've been through… and remind us what we're fighting for."

"Our scars don't have to define us, Tommy," Allie said, looking into his eyes. "We can be more than that," she planted a kiss on his neck, "We can be whatever we want to be."

"In a perfect world, Allie," Tommy frowned.

"Listen, Sunshine, I've waited a long time for this," she cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. "You are not going to ruin it for me."

"It's just…" Tommy ran his hand through her hair, "What if something were to happen to one of us? If we got close like this, and then I lost you…"

"There's always that risk. Even if we _weren't _rebels fighting a war against alien oppressors, there'd be that risk, Tommy. You can't let the fear of loss control your life."

"I know," he sighed, "I love you, Allie."

"Wow, I need to savor this while I can," she smiled, "I have a feeling I'll never get you to say that out loud again."

"Not a chance in hell."

"You stubborn asshole."

"You annoying bitch."

"Why the hell do I love you?"

"Not a clue. I certainly wouldn't love me."

"I blame my mother. I don't think she raised me very well."

"You know, looking back on it, I'm not sure an apocalyptic dystopia is really an appropriate environment for raising children. Shame on her."

"Right! Somebody should really let Child Protective Services know about this."

The two laughed, but there was an underlying sadness at the memory of Dinah. "I miss her, Tommy."

"Me too."

"Do you think she'd be proud of us, if she were here to see us now?"

"I know she would," Tommy grinned, and then looked around, remembering that they were in a dirty, decaying collapsed subway tunnel that had filled with water, and currently floating in it naked. "Well, maybe not if she saw us _right now_, but, you know…"

"Yeah, I got it Sunshine," Allie laughed. "We should probably get back to the others… things have been peaceful for like, twenty minutes, so we're overdue for another catastrophe."

"I guess you're right," he sighed, trying to hide the worry on his face. His mind was racing with so many variables; he hadn't meant for this to happen, not yet. He never intended to tell Allie how he felt until after their war was over; after the smoke had settled… assuming they were both still alive, of course. He didn't want to distract himself from his leadership duties with a relationship. Every fiber of his sensible being was screaming at him to pull away from her, telling him it was the wrong time, that he had more important things to focus his energy on than a love life. He knew it, deep down; he knew that every second he spent in her embrace was a mistake. But if he told her that now, it would break her heart. He couldn't bring himself to do that to her.

Allie, reading Tommy's face and knowing something was amiss, said, "You're going to run away, aren't you?"

"What…?"

"You always run away. Every time I finally start to get underneath that thick exterior of yours… you wind up pushing me out."

"Allie…" he choked, unsure of exactly what to say. He was torn between what he wanted and what was necessary. What he knew was right and what _felt _right. He was prepared to feed her an excuse, tell her that his responsibilities as a leader were more important than his own happiness, but then he saw the threat of tears in her eyes, and realized that he could no longer spare her any pain by pulling away. "Not this time," he spoke softly. "I'm not running away any more."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

He kissed her again, and pushed all of his internal negativity away. _I can make this work_, he thought, _I can balance my emotions and my responsibilities. I'll make it work._

Meanwhile, just some fifty feet away, around the corner leading into the room, Connor Queen stood in shadow, listening to the conversation echo gently through the surrounding area. "Wonderful," Connor muttered under his breathe, "Just fucking wonderful.'

…

Sky Kent laid back, arms folded behind his head, floating among the clouds. He closed his eyes, drifting pleasantly through the sky, and allowed his super hearing to run wild, picking up every miniscule noise far and wide.

He could hear mothers crying over in the desolation that had once been Central City, mourning the loss of loved ones in the chaos. He could hear the laughter of children who had survived the calamity, excited to be living a life no matter how hard. He heard people on other ends of the earth, murmuring in their respective languages. Sky couldn't understand them completely, but occasionally he could pick out names he recognized well; "Onların lideri Thomas Grayson olduğunu," one Chinese woman said.

"Sie nennen ihn Jesse West, und er ist der schnellste Mann der Welt!" Exclaimed a man in Germany.

"Jevais de se marier l'un avec l'arc et la flèche, ils l'appellent Allie Queen!" A French man stated.

_They're talking about us all over the world_, Sky smiled. _Word of us is spreading. Everyone knows who we are and what we're doing… we've given them hope._

Sky thought of the many sounds of the world as music. Some songs were sad, others happy, some funny, some angry… by the time he finished listening, the experience was always cathartic to him; an absolute resonance with every minute facet of the human heart, a complete look at the emotional spectrum that permeates us all. _People are beautiful_; Sky thought to himself, _I just wish more of them would take the time to notice it._

Currently, the songs coming from his friends were extremely varied; Jesse's heartbeat was a bit faster than normal, his breathing a bit off… he was worried, hiding immense stress over the absence of Quinton. But whenever he was near Zatina, that all slowed down, evened out… being around her calmed him. She was just the opposite; being near Jesse made Zatina's heartbeat speed up a little, and even the pitch in her voice would change; she would become more confident, more fulfilled with him at her side. Their heartbeats a love song in Sky's ears; one of his favorites.

Then there was Connor, who was clearly frustrated. He would grunt and sigh periodically, pacing back and forth and a slightly faster pace than one would normally walk. His song, to Sky, was an ominous beat… contained, but volatile, ready to explode. And under the circumstances, Sky decided that was probably justifiable. Connor had lost two of his closest friends in the past week; he didn't trust Tommy as a leader and he certainly trust him with his sister.

And Kavita, a song filled with impatience, frustration, uncertainty. She still felt guilty over the time she'd spent as Granny Goodness's lapdog, and worried that she'd never be able to atone for that. Her song was sad, mournful, reflective. And Mckayla… Sky liked to think of her song as a tribal beat, a roaring drum filled with determination and ferocity, but lined with a subtle violin, a flare of compassion.

"People are music," Sky spoke aloud, a grin on his face, "And I'm the only one who hears it."

Down below, he could hear Jesse and Zatina's heartbeats jump from one location to another, and he knew that they had warped back to the tunnel. "Guess I'd better go down there," he sighed, adjusting himself so that he were facing in that direction. Suddenly, breaking the sound barrier in an instant, he took off soaring toward the tunnels.

…

"What happened?" Tommy questioned, having dried himself off and gotten dressed just moments prior.

"Well, there's good news, and some bad news," Jesse said. "Good news, Apokoliptian forces haven't gotten to Kio and Prome. Bad news is… neither have we."

"Where are they then?" Tommy inquired.

"We don't know," Zatina shook her head. "By the time we got there, they'd already escaped the infirmary. Flo showed up on assignment from Darkseid to retrieve them, and she seemed just as surprised that they were gone as we were."

"Flo was there?" Allie raised an eyebrow.

"We didn't confront her, although I _really_ wanted to," Jesse answered. "She was all decked in some slutty Apokoliptian armor too. And she killed two clones of us that she doesn't know were clones… didn't even care. It seemed totally casual to her."

"I'm hating her more and more every minute," Mckayla bit the inside of her cheek. "Did you hear anything about where she might be headed next?"

"She talked about putting together a search party and looking for Kio and Prome," Zatina said. "Darkseid really wants them found."

"Darkseid was there too?" Connor questioned.

"Just as a hologram."

"Sort of like Tupac, but less awesome," Jesse confirmed.

"How was looking?"

"Pretty terrible. You definitely wounded him with that bullet."

"So we need to get to him before he can heal," Connor nodded, "Stomp him out while he's weak."

"Don't forget about Ethan," Kavita interjected. "He still has him up his sleeve."

"Flo's magic is controlling him, right? If we take her out, the spell over Ethan would probably break," Mckayla reasoned.

"But Darkseid still isn't defenseless," Kavita argued. "He's got Kalibak, the Female Furies, hordes of Parademons, super advanced tech, weaponry and drones and… and God knows what else. You guys haven't been to Apokolips. I have, and I can promise you that if we go there now, we're all going to die."

"I agree that we're too weak right now to make a move like that," Tommy nodded. "We need to build our resources back up. Get our hands on some weapons and equipment, some food, some transportation..."

"And we need to find Quinton," Jesse interrupted. "Have you all forgotten about him?"

"Nobody has, Jesse," Sky put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I spent four hours searching that wreckage with my x-ray vision. I never found him."

"Then he isn't there, obviously!" Jesse pulled away, "Look, I know he made it out of that explosion, okay? I just know. He's Quinton! He's always managed to surprise us before! He's constantly surpassing our expectations."

"But he's not invincible, Jesse," Kavita spoke softly. "Look, I won't count Quinton dead until we have evidence but…"

"But nothing. He's saved our lives… how many times now? And the moment he needs our help, you're all turning away!" Jesse backed up, "Well I'm gonna' go find him."

"Jesse, wait-" Zatina tried to stop him, but he disappeared into an orange blur, vanishing from sight in an instant.

"I'll go after him," Sky sighed, "Make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm the only one who can keep up with him," Sky shrugged. "And I'd hate to see him get careless and wind up in trouble. You know… again."

"Thanks, Sky."

"No problem," the blonde Kryptonian shot her a smile and then blurred off, following Jesse's trail.

"Alright, while those two out doing… whatever, let's start spit balling ideas for a way to build our resources back up," Tommy suggested.

"Hold on," Connor interrupted, "I'm not sure our news report is over."

"What do you mean?"

"Anything worthy of note happen lately, Tommy? Something you'd like to share? Something that might affect the _entire team _negatively?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tommy scowled.

"Okay," Connor stepped in front of him, wearing his usual cocky smile. "If you're sure there's nothing you should tell us, I trust you."

"Connor, whatever you're doing, stop it," Mckayla pleaded to him. "Haven't we learned our lesson about fighting among the team?"

"Right," Connor smiled, "Just like we've learned not to keep secrets from the team. Right, Tommy?"

Tommy leaned in and spoke only so Connor could hear him, "If you want to talk, we can do it in private. I don't need you standing here and challenging my authority in front of my team. I'm willing to keep my mouth shut and not fight with you. I'd appreciate it if you could do the same."

"Alright," Connor backed off, "But the moment you let your little fling get in the way of your judgment on the battlefield, you and I are going to have a very public discussion."

"Stop it..." Allie said, her voice suddenly weak. Without warning, her vision blurred and she started to stumble.

"Allie?" Tommy caught her before she fell over, "Are you okay?"

"What did you do to her?" Connor shouted.

"Seriously? You're blaming this on me now?"

"Move," Zatina pushed past Connor and felt Allie's forehead. "She's burning up… did this just come on suddenly?"

"She was fine a few minutes ago," Tommy insisted.

"Radiation poisoning," Kavita pointed out, "She was exposed to Brimstone's radiation more than any of us, remember? And they were up close and personal when his reactor exploded."

"Symptoms of radiation sickness typically take time to manifest… she's been sick ever since the encounter with Brimstone, and we're just now seeing the affects," Mckayla reasoned.

"Shit…" Tommy felt her skin, astounded by her rapidly rising temperature. She was shivering now, and a far-off look gleamed in her eyes. "Z, can you treat it?"

"I… I don't really know how to combat infections like this. I'm good at treating physical injuries; I have no idea how to tackle radiation sickness. I'll try, and I'll do what I can… I should at least be able to slow it down. But she needs medicine, Tommy."

"We need to figure out where we can gather up supplies… fast."

"Agreed," Connor breathed a concerned sigh, "I'll head up top and ask around, see if anybody might happen to have some medicine we can borrow."

"Good luck," Mckayla frowned, "Medicine is such a rarity these days that whenever someone does have it, they covet it like gold."

"It's worth a shot anyway," Tommy reasoned, nodding for Connor to go. Allie was drenched in sweat now, her fever taking hold. "Hang on Allie," he whispered, "I'll get you through this… I promise."

…

"Jesse!" Sky shouted, racing behind the speedster. "Slow down, we don't know if there are enemy scouts out this way!"

"Don't really care," Jesse yelled back, sprinting through the wreckage of Central City. Nearing the speed of light, he dug rapidly through the rubble and debris, looking for any signs of life.

"Jesse…" Sky grabbed him, "I've been through all this a dozen times. Quinton isn't here."

"Then he's somewhere else. I just need to figure out where he might have gone and-"

"Jess, would you agree that Quinton is a pretty smart guy?"

"Smartest I know."

"Don't you think if he's alive, then he'll figure out a way to get to us?"

"What if he's hurt, though? He could be lying wounded somewhere!"

"If he were wounded, he wouldn't have been able to get out of this area, and we would have found him by now because we've torn this area apart."

"Yeah… okay, good point," Jesse crossed his arms defiantly.

"And I know that I don't know Quinton as well as you do, but it's not like he's a stranger to me… and from everything I know of him, it seems like the last thing he'd want is for us to waste time and energy looking for him when we know, realistically, we probably aren't going to find him."

"Alright," Jesse groaned, "Yeah, you're right."

"You wanna' get back and-" Sky paused, looking to the left, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Hang on," Sky bolted off in that direction.

"Sky? Hear what? Sky, get back here!" Jesse ran after him. The two came to a stop in front of a large chunk of debris, and Sky scanned over it with his x-ray vision.

"How did I miss that…?"

"Miss what? Sky, what's under there?"

"Get back," Sky motioned for Jesse to give him room. Then he grabbed the chunk of rock and raised it over it his head as easily as if it were a feather. Beneath the debris was a metallic arm, clawing at the dirt ferociously. Protruding from the broken metal plating of the arm were several wires, from which sparks surged.

"Is… is that Chris's arm?" Jesse stammered.

"I think so," Sky nodded, "That's awesome!"

"…And terrifying."

"But mostly awesome," Sky picked the arm up, studying it intently.

"Don't touch it!"

"Why?"

"Dude, it's a dead guy's arm! What more explanation do you need?"

"It's a cybernetic arm, Jesse, that's barley even the same thing."

"Well, its freakin' creepy," Jesse backed up a little. "Hey, uh… was Chris a lefty?"

"Don't think so, why?"

"Well, think about it, he spent a lot of time _alone _in his workshop… what do you think he did with that arm?"

"Uh," Sky's eyes bulged and he tossed the arm back on the ground. "Good point."

It landed with its palm facing up, and Jesse noticed a blinking beacon on the palm. "What's that?" He questioned, kneeling down to get a better look.

"Low battery warning, maybe?"

"I don't think so…" Jesse touched the blinker carefully, "It's blinking in a varying set of patterns… almost like its transmitting a signal."

"Hang on…" Sky stared ahead for a moment.

"What are you doing?"

"I can see the electromagnetic spectrum."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool. And you're right, the arm is definitely sending out some sort of radio transmission."

"Sky, you're telling me you've been able to see radio waves this whole time, and you haven't told me about it?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Well…" Jesse paused a moment, unsure of how to respond. "It matters, okay?"

"Okay…" Sky shrugged, "Well, this means Chris was sending out a transmission before he died. Question is… to who?"

"Let's find out," Jesse began flipping every switch he could find on the arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Pressing colorful buttons."

"You sure that's safe?"

"Don't be a pussy, dude. What could possibly-" suddenly, the palm of the arm opened up into a cannon and released a powerful sonic blast that knocked Jesse off his feet and destroyed a large chunk of stone in front of them, shattering it into pebbles. Sky took cover from the blast, and the moment the smoke cleared, he shot Jesse a glare.

"You were saying?"

"Sorry," Jesse grinned sheepishly, getting back up on his feet. "Maybe you should hold this."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," Sky took hold of the arm, studied it for a moment, and then pressed the blinking beacon. It sank in easily, like a button would, and then a bright blue stream of light shot forth, morphing into a holographic image several feet from them.

"Whoa…" Sky mused.

"_Pfft_, this isn't even the first hologram I've seen today," Jesse rolled his eyes.

The light formed into a large computer, floating computer screen image. Several markers were illuminated on the screen, and the top read, in block letters, "Apokoliptian Points of Access."

"What does that mean?" Sky asked.

"Not sure…" Jesse touched one of the glowing points on the screen, and a miniscreen popped up, revealing a stream of data written in Apokoliptian text. In the corner of the screen was a tab that said "Translate to English." Jesse selected the tab, and after a moment all of the text had been translated.

It was a list of Apokoliptian battle plans from The Invasion. "Oh my God," Jesse's eyes widened, "Sky, I think these are Darkseid's archives!" He minimized that screen and opened another access point. This one was a spreadsheet with the names of all the children kept in the different orphanages on both Earth and Apokolips. "Dude, Chris totally hacked Apokolips! This is their entire mainframe!"

"Why didn't Chris tell us about this?"

"I don't think he had time. See this time tag in the corner… it says the hack was completed four hours ago. He had this program running when he died."

"Wow," Sky looked over the vast array of information now at their disposal. "That's incredible."

"Darkseid put a spy in our midst," Jesse grinned, "Now we have one in his. With this, we can keep track of everything Apokolips does… every order Darkseid sends out, every piece of information they come across, every dirty little secret they have… we'll know about it."

"See if you can find some idea in here as to where we could go to get some supplies. You know, weapons, food, medicine, clothing… something."

"Hang on," Jesse began looking through the list of headings for different informational categories. "Well look at that."

"What?"

"Here, Apokolips has put together a list of possible places we might be using as a hideout right now."

"Is that right?"

"Yup. Isn't that adorable?" Jesse laughed, opening the file. "They have some places listed in here we don't even know about. How helpful, Mr. Darkseid."

"Anywhere we could get what we need from?"

"Okay, look at this," Jesse stopped at one item on the list, "The Hall of Justice. During the Invasion, it was one of the first places that got attacked… the building was pretty much destroyed, but the Justice League had a bunch of rooms underneath the Hall where they may have stored some supplies we could scavenge."

"Sounds good to me."

"Let's go tell the others. The sooner we get moving, the better."

**...**

"What are we doing here?" Alex Luthor asked, following Troy into an abandoned, rundown warehouse in Coast City.

"Just watch," Troy said smugly.

"I'm getting really tired of your whole secretive act. If I'm going to help you, you need to let me in on a few of those deep dark secrets of yours."

"Calm down Alex," Troy smiled, stopping at heavy steel door. "I'll tell you as much as you need to know, and as much as you're ready to hear."

"That's not reassuring."

"Wasn't supposed to be. Now, tell me Alex, are you familiar with a man named Roger Hayden?"

"Not particularly."

"In our parent's day, he was a second-rate super villain called the Psycho-Pirate. He fed off the emotions of angsty teenagers, mostly. During the Invasion, he avoided execution by cutting a deal with Apokolips, as many villains did. Roger Hayden… his agreement was particularly disturbing. He would pretend to open safe havens, places of refuge, for children on the run to Apokolips. He'd promise them safety, food and care. But in reality, once the kids were in his clutches, he'd turn them over to Granny Goodness. That's how your sister got caught. And me and Corey… the first time."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"Well," Troy grinned, pushing open the door, "Would you like to meet him?"

"What the…" Alex gasped, looking into a small, dimly lit, blood-soaked room, at the center of which was a wooden desk and chair. Sitting in the chair, with his wrists clamped to the table, was a man covered in blood, bruises and lacerations. He trembled, his eyes growing wide with fear the moment he saw Troy.

"This is Roger Hayden," Troy said casually, picking up a hammer from the table. "He's been in my captivity for the past couple of days…" Without hesitation, Troy swung the hammer down and smashed his hand. The man let out a scream of agony, tears pouring down his face. "And he's going to tell us where to find our common enemy, Granny Goodness."

Troy brought down the hammer again, bashing the man's hand a second time. Bone shattered, and flesh ruptured under the weight of Troy's strike, setting forth a gush of blood, washing over the skin as it turned a sickening purple color.

"Would you like to smash the other one?" Troy asked calmly, holding the blood soaked hammer out toward Alex.

"No…" Alex took a step back, trying to hide his disgust.

"Suit yourself," Troy shrugged, then grabbed his captive's hand and forced him to look at him. "Where is Granny Goodness?"

"Please… let me go home…" the man pleaded, sobbing. "I've already told you everything I know. She's visiting one of the Earth-based Extraction Stations this week…"

"Which one?"

"I don't know."

Troy brought the hammer down and crushed the other hand to a pulp. "Sure about that?"

"Stop!" The man screamed, "I – don't – know!"

"Alright then," Troy swung the hammer again, this time smashing the man's eye. Immediately the area around the eye blacked, blood pouring from the ruptured organ. "Let's try a different technique."

Troy flipped the hammer around, blood dripping from its head, and aimed the claw end of the tool at his victim.

"Why don't you just use your truth powers on him?" Alex asked, afraid of what Troy was about to do. "You could just make him tell the truth with your touch, couldn't you?"

"I could," Troy smiled, "But I find doing things the old-fashioned way is a hell of a lot more fun."

_He's insane_, Alex thought, a bead of sweat running down his face. _I knew he was a dirt bag… but he's a full on psychopath!_

"You ever hear that wives tale about telling lies, Mr. Hayden?" Troy hooked the claw of his hammer on the inside of the man's jaw. "They say if you tell a lie, your tongue will turn black and fall out. Let's test that, shall we?"

The man tried to object, tears spilling from his eyes, but he couldn't speak with the hammer claw in his mouth.

"Where is Granny Goodness?"

"I don't know," the man murmured as best as he could over the hammer.

"Fibber, fibber," Troy shook his head, wagging a finger disapprovingly. Without warning, he ripped down on the hammer with all his strength, and tore the man's jaw off of his face. Bloody, broken teeth fell into shambles onto the floor and the blood-soaked jaw hit the floor soon after. The man's tongue remained dangling out of the roof of his mouth, dripping with gore. "Well, it didn't turn black, but your tongue _did _fall out," Troy smiled. He reached out with his free hand and grabbed the man's throat, crushing it with terrifying ease. He dropped the suffocating, jawless man on the floor, leaving to die soaked in a pool of his own blood.

Troy turned around, covered in blood, hammer in hand, and looked to Alex with a casual expression. "Wasn't that fun?"

"Boat loads," Alex did everything he could to hide the sense of horror that had overtaken him. "So… you've just killed our informant. How do you suppose we find out where Goodness will be now?"

"Oh, her?" Troy laughed, "I already know where to find that bitch. One of my sources filled me in earlier."

"Then what was the point of that?"

"This guy was trash, Alex," Troy spoke with a wicked gleam in his eye. "Trash needs to be taken out."

"Most people don't enjoy taking out the trash as much as you seem to."

"Most people have less exciting trash."

Troy headed for the door, walking as if nothing had happened. "We should get going soon, we still have another stop to make."

Troy closed the door behind him, leaving Alex alone in the room, the pool of blood slowly expanding onto his feet. "My God…" Alex breathed, "What have I gotten myself into?"


	27. Assembly

**Hey everybody. I've been away a long time… and I'm extremely grateful to those of you who have stuck around for the ride this long, through all my hiatuses and delays and excuses. School and work and life have been pretty successfully consuming all of my waking hours, and in the midst of it all, I kind of lost my passion for this. It's been months since I've actually sat down and written something… but the moral of the story is, I'm back on the horse now, and I can't begin to explain how much it means to me that many of you, even throughout all this time, have kept in varying degrees of contact with me and continued to request more updates, some of you in rather creative ways (One of you recently threatened to set me on fire. That was a new one). Thank you again, to the fans who have stuck with me and been patient; you're my favorite people ;)**

**Due to the delay, a lot of the details of what's going on up to this point are probably rather fuzzy in your minds, so I'll provide a quick recap to refresh you; Flo is the traitor, Chris is dead but Sky and Jesse found his robotic arm loaded with a database of all Apokoliptian activity, Allie and Tommy declared their undying love and all that good stuff, Mckayla is brandishing a fancy new Green Lantern ring, Connor wounded Darkseid with a radion bullet, Quinton is missing and possibly dead, as are Kio and Prome, Ethan is under mind control by Flo, Alex is allied with Troy in a hunt for Granny Goodness, and Troy just went full-psycho and ripped the jaw off some poor guy which had Alex shaking in his boots. If you want a more in-depth recap but don't have time to go back and re-read old chapters, feel free to PM me and I'll see to it that you're caught up as quickly as I can manage.**

**I'm making it a point to never have to do another one of those recaps again, even if I have to give up precious sleep to get these chapters out faster. If you've stuck with it this long, you deserve to see the ending in a timely fashion way more than I deserve to be lazy about it. So now, without further ado, here is the long anticipated chapter 27! Enjoy.**

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Assembly

Troy Prince stood atop an abandoned warehouse with a self-satisfied grin, the moonlight shimmering off of his steely eyes as he awaited his clandestine ally. Slowly, from the shadows, an oily black substance oozed into the center of the rooftop. The slime crawled from seemingly all directions, coagulating into a writhing, bulbous mass several feet from the young half-Amazon. The mass of charcoal-colored ooze rose into a pillar, and began to slowly take on a humanoid shape. The blackened sludge began to lighten in hue, taking on the appearance of pale skin. Soon, Troy was greeted eye-to-eye with the shimmering gaze of a young woman with a polite smile. She shifted on her feet, hands folded daintily behind her back; her smooth, pale complexion seemed almost translucent under the equally pale light of the full possessed a piercing gaze with eyes that continually shifted color, and oily black hair that fell over her breasts. "Do you _really _have to present yourself that way?" Troy rolled his eyes, irritation seeping from his inflexion.

"I like this form," the girl shrugged, slinking forward with a casual step. "Makes me feel pretty."

"Pretty girls wear clothing in public. What you're doing is called _slutty_."

"Prude," the girl groaned, her tone now evenly annoyed. Her torso swirled into a mass of black fluid, and rematerialized cloaked in a sleek black dress. "Satisfied?"

"With your performance earlier? Very," Troy smiled, looking out over the ledge of the rooftop. "Alex was shaking in his boots."

"It was like seeing a five year old watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre," The girl laughed, and then quickly morphed into the form of the blood-soaked prisoner whose jaw Troy had ripped off with the hammer. In a suddenly masculine voice he/she pleaded, "Stop it! Please, don't hurt me you monster!" Then she morphed back into the female figure, laughing hysterically. "You put on a pretty good show yourself, Troy. If I hadn't known better, I would have believed you really were some psychopath."

"Yeah," Troy grinned, moonlight glinting off his eyes. "If you didn't know better."

"So now Alex thinks you're some kind of bloodthirsty sadist. How exactly does that benefit you?"

"Because now Alex will be easier to control," Troy turned around to face her, a methodical pacing in his speech. "He's clever. And he can't be trusted if he thinks he can outsmart me, because he'll try. Fortunately, fear is a powerful motivator. He's afraid of me now. And if he's afraid of me, he won't challenge me. And that means I can feel confident taking him into the fight with Granny, without having to worry about getting stabbed in the back."

"Clever, clever," the girl morphed into a thin pillar of black slime and snaked swiftly behind Troy, rematerializing and wrapping her arms around his neck. She whispered into his ear, "Where'd you learn to be so manipulative?"

"Same way you learned to act so well," Troy looked up to the sky. "My father taught me."

"Charming. Now, about my payment…"

"Of course. Just a moment," he reached into his pouch, and withdrew a slim green shard. "Four ounces of de-radiated Kryptonite. It has value on almost any planet… to some buyers more than others."

"Much obliged Mr. Prince," Ink slithered in front of Troy, taking the shard in her palm. The skin on her hand pulsated ever so slightly, and the shard sank beneath her flesh, absorbed into her body for safe keeping. "But I do believe our agreement entailed a payment of eight ounces."

"You've done half your job, you'll get half your pay. The rest will come after we get through the difficult part," Troy returned his hand to the pouch and withdrew a faded old photograph, handing it to her carefully.

"What's this?" Ink questioned, studying the photograph.

"Your canvas," Troy turned and walked toward the ledge. Upon reaching it, he glanced back at her and said, "Get ready for act two."

…**.**

Consciousness crept in upon Quinton Sage slowly, a faint ray of light burning through the deadened shadows permeating his psyche. One by one his sensations were brought to life; he was cold, wet, sore both inside and out. He smelled sulfur, dust, thick smoke… decaying corpses. Every fiber of his being hurt. As the ringing in his ears began to dissipate, he became aware of the sound of dripping water. He could taste blood in his mouth. Suddenly, the meticulous dripping of water was accommodated by the sound of two distinct, childlike voices; "Is he alive?" One voice inquired.

"Shut up! I think he's trying to say something," The second voice rebuked.

"Not if he's dead, numb nuts."

"Shut up!"

"Maybe we should poke him with something…"

"I got a stick."

"Give it here."

"No, it's my stick!"

"Don't be mean!"

"You just called me numb nuts!"

"Give me the stick numb nuts!"

"You want the stick?" _Whack!_

"Ouch! You're a jerk!"

"Just hurry up and poke him, I want to see what happens."

A jabbing sensation rocketed into Quinton's ribs, jolting away any remaining shred of unconscious euphoria. Quinton shot his hand outward, grabbing the stick, and opened his eyes, the fuzzy images of Kio and Prome manifesting as his vision regained functionality. "I've never punched a child before, but if you don't put about fifteen feet of distance between you and me in the next four seconds, I just might."

"Shoot, I thought he was dead," Prome folded his arms resentfully. "I was gonna' fry him up so we'd have something to eat."

"That's disgusting!" Kio looked to his red-haired twin in horror, "We don't even have any seasoning!"

"Have you kids ever read Lord of the Flies?" Quinton groaned, pulling himself to his feet."

"No," the twins replied in unison.

"Never do. I don't want you warped little freaks getting any ideas," he surveyed his surroundings, hands shoved in the pockets of his charred, tattered coat. He could see nothing but colored blobs. "Where are my glasses?"

"Oh, Prome took those to try and reflect the sun through the lenses and burn ants, and I told him that was stupid because he can just make fire anyway, and we had a big fight and started wrestling and they got kinda' broken," Kio answered.

"…are you kidding me?"

"Don't worry, we fixed them for you…" Kio held out Quinton's orange-tinted glasses, the two split halves of its right lens stuck together with old chewing gum.

"_Awesome_," Quinton groaned sarcastically, feeling around on a chunk of debris to ensure that it was what he thought he was seeing before taking a seat on it. His red hair hung over his face in a shaggy, unkempt nest caked with grime and blood. "Where are we, exactly?"

"We don't know," Prome shrugged. "We woke up in the Clock Tower and everybody was gone so we went out to try and find you guys, and then we saw bad guys coming to search the woods so we hid in this cave and found this big fortress underneath the ground. And then a Boom Tube opened and you fell here, except you were sleeping. And we kinda' thought you were dead like the other two. But now you're awake."

"I came through a boom tube?" Quinton raised an eyebrow. "The last thing I remember…" sadness set in on his face, "…I was thrown out of an Apokoliptian ship… apparently I never hit the ground… why?"

"No clue, dude." Kio handed him a can of fruit, "Here. We found a bunch of canned food that's really, really old but it still tastes okay if you swallow it really quick."

"Thanks," Quinton attempted to read the label on the can for an expiration date, but his vision provided only a white and black blur where letters should have been. "Um, Prome…you said that you and Kio thought I was dead 'like the other two.' What did you mean? What other two?"

"The two people who were already in this cave when we got here. They look like they've been dead a long time."

"Can you show me where they are?"

"Yeah, sure." Prome got up and created a surge of flame in the palm of his hand, "It gets really dark once you move this far in, I'll light the way."

Quinton followed the orange blur of the fire down a long, damp corridor. The temperature seemed to decrease dramatically as they traveled. Soon, they came to a stop. "Here you are," Prome said, holding his nose to try and mask the scent of death, and from the look on his face, it wasn't working.

"Alright…" Quinton put on his cracked glasses, and despite the visual impediment of the gum stuck between the two halves of his right lens, he was able to make a fair assessment. "The cave comes to a total dead end here," he observed, running his hand along the cold stone wall against which the pair of bodies were laid. "They were running from something. It drove them here and they had nowhere else to go." He looked down at their petrified faces, largely preserved from the effects of decay due to the preservative effects of the cool, isolated environment. He studied the looks of horror and despair forever emblazoned on their lifeless countenance; a man and a woman. Age was difficult to judge due to the withered state of the corpses, but Quinton surmised they had been in their forties. Two matching wedding rings shimmered in the light of Prome's fire, the only aspect of the corpses left unaffected by rot and decay. "Love withstanding the test of the time," Quinton rolled his eyes, "What a load of bullshit." He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and withdrew his sketchbook, filled with drawings of Flo. He tossed it onto the cave floor, looked to Prome and said, "Burn it."

"Sure?" Prome asked, looking surprised.

"Go to town, kid."

Quinton exited the corridor with his head hung low, and tossed the can of fruit back to Kio. "I'm not hungry." He approached the mouth of the cave, looking out into the desolate, lifeless forest. A ghost of former beauty. At his feet was a steel door with a combination lock, which had been ripped off of the cave's entrance, no doubt by Apokoliptian forces right after the invasion. "I think that dead couple back there were a pair of doomsday preppers. This was probably their big hide away, where they were prepared for the apocalypse." Quinton laughed, a melancholy laugh filled with contempt. "Nobody was prepared for Apokolips. Not really." Suddenly, a bizarre thought set into Quinton's mind; _Prepared. I came here through a Boom Tube. Who could have opened a Boom Tube? The only ones who saw me fall were Darkseid and Flo. Neither of them would have saved me. Unless… no, stop it… don't get your hopes up like that… Flo didn't save your life. She's a traitor. She used me. She manipulated me. I fell right into it. I'm an idiot. I wasn't prepared. No one was prepared. No one is ever prepared. But who opened the boom tube? There's no other reasonable conclusion… _

Quinton turned around and studied the cave again. "Why here?" He spoke aloud, "What did she want me to find here? What game is she playing?" Quinton looked down to the damaged door at his feet and took notice of yellow, cursive lettering on it. It read; _Suscipiet fillis nostris. _Though his Latin was rusty at best, after a few minutes he was able to determine the meaning of the phrase; "Protect the children."

"Protect the children…" Quinton looked back at Kio and Prome. "Is that why she sent me here?" He pondered the idea for a moment longer; "Why would a pair of doomsday preppers brand that on the entrance to their door? Unless…" he shot his gaze to Kio, "You said you found a bunch of canned food. Can you take me to where you found it?"

"I thought you said you weren't hungry?"

"Just go with it Kio, this is important."

"Um, alright…" Kio motioned for Quinton to follow, and crawled behind a large boulder. Quinton followed, coming out into a small cove hollowed into the cave wall, in which a pantry had been built. The shelves were stocked with cans of food, but much to Quinton's horror, a large majority of it consisted of baby food. "Dear God…" Quinton picked up a jar of baby food, and looked back down the corridor where the dead bodies had been. "She was pregnant. They built this fortress to protect their baby… and Apokolips came in and butchered her…" Quinton fell against the wall, feeling nauseous. "She was pregnant…" he thought back to three months prior, the night at Corey's base where he and Flo had spent the night together. "Oh no… oh please God no…" he sunk onto the floor, clutching his scalp. "Is this what she wanted me to find?" His hands were shaking so violently that he dropped the jar of baby food, only vaguely aware of the sound of it shattering at his feet. "Pregnant…"

"Dude, are you alright?" Kio knelt down to meet his eyes, "You don't look so good."

Suddenly, the sound of thrusters outside permeated the cave, echoing from the stony walls. Prome peered out the mouth of the cave and called, "Guys, we need to get out of here…"

"What is it?" Kio questioned.

"Apokolips ship, headed this way… fast."

"Damn it…" Quinton got on his feet, wobbly, disconcerted. "Not now. I can't deal with this shit right now…" He ran a hand through his hair, putting all of his energy into trying to collect his thoughts. _Protect the Children. _He looked down to Kio and Prome; "They want you two. That's why they're here."

"Why us?" Kio cocked an eyebrow, "What makes us so special?"

"You don't remember what happened before you two passed out? During the fight at the Clock Tower?"

"Nope," Prome shook his head. "It's all really fuzzy."

Quinton thought back to Firestorm, the being that the two children had merged into when their lives were threatened. He considered explaining it to them, hoping that perhaps they could do it again, but logic dictated that the risk of failure greatly outweighed the chance of success in that endeavor. Instead, he began to formulate an escape plan, knowing full well that they wouldn't survive a fight. _Think, Quinton. Think. Analyze your surroundings; what resources are available to you? _He took inventory of other items in the pantry; diapers, baby blankets, baby powder; all sorts of products stored as preparation for the couple's coming child… the child they never got to have. "Kio, I need you to ice the entrance."

"But there's no other way out of here!"

"Just do it. Trust me."

"Okay…" Kio approached the mouth of the cave, held out his hands, and unleashed a burst of blue energy. The temperature in the cave instantly dropped, and the blue convalesced at the opening of the cave, growing into a thick, jagged wall of ice that completely sealed them off from the outside. This stopped any light from entering the cave, rendering the area pitch dark. Prome created two balls of fire, one in each hand, to illuminate the cavern in a basking orange glow. "What now?"

"Go drag the two corpses out of the tunnel and into this area."

"What? That's disgusting!" Kio objected, throwing up his hands. "I'm not doing that!"

"Do you want to end up like them?"

"Well, no…"

"You can put a layer of ice along the floor so that it's easier to drag them along; less friction. Just get them over here. While you're doing that…" Quinton found a wooden crib shoved into the far end of the pantry, and began breaking the bars off of the frame.

"Why are you destroying a crib?"

"There's no time to explain, okay? Just do what I tell you." Quinton grabbed the boxes of diapers and baby oil, tossing them to Prome. "You can empty those boxes out and set them on fire for light, and then fill all of the diapers with baby powder. Be sure to fill as many as you can," Quinton ordered as he continued to break apart the baby crib.

"Are you sure you have a plan? This all seems really pointless," Prome mumbled as he went to work pouring baby powder into empty diapers.

"When your resources are limited, you need to improvise," Quinton readjusted his glasses, "And improvising is what I do best."

…

Darkseid slouched into his throne, the wound in his chest from Connor's radion arrow gradually becoming worse. "When I commanded that you heal me, I expected that I would in fact be healed…" he growled to Flo, in her Apokoliptian armor as she ran a glowing hand over the wound.

"I'm trying," Flo made every attempt to bury the irritation in her tone, not wanting to anger Lord Darkseid. "I've never had to work with anything like this before. It might take a few days to get the proper remedy balanced; lots of trial and error."

"I suggest you expedite the process before the delay outweighs your value," Darkseid warned. "And what of your progress in finding the experiments, Khione and Prometheus?"

"Kalibak has a lead on their location," Flo pursed her lips. "He's leading a squad there now."

"And of Thomas Grayson and his allies?"

"We… are uncertain of their whereabouts, Lord Darkseid. But we have several teams searching and-"

"There are _always _teams searching. This game of cat and mouse has gone on too long. I want them found, and I want them dead."

"Lord Darkseid, we may have a more severe problem on our hands…" Desaad's voice resounded as he entered the throne room.

"Explain yourself."

"We've received word from our scouts that Troy Prince is mobilizing forces… it appears as though he is building his own team, my liege."

"A team? Consisting of who?"

"He has thus far been largely successful at keeping his allies under the radar, but-"

"Who?"

"…we have footage of Troy conversing with Alexander Luthor, as well as Synthia O'Brian, the daughter of the former Earth hero known as Plastic Man, and Jack Quinzel, a young vigilante who claims to be the child of The Joker. We believe there are more, but, as I said… Troy has done a fine job of covering his tracks up until now. We believe he could have been readying these forces for at least a year."

"His stint undercover with Thomas Grayson's team was, no doubt, a trial run to see which of these 'League Kids' were skilled enough to enter his ranks. Troy is acting soley on the orders of his… benefactor. And it would appear that benefactor is building a task force to oppose us."

"Lord Darkseid, if I may…" Flo interrupted, "Who _is _Troy's benefactor? Who is he working for?"

After a long pause, Darkseid spoke, "The last major threat left on Earth. Someone who I should have destroyed when I had the opportunity nearly two decades ago." Darkseid then looked to Flo imperiously and commanded, "This development has pushed our deadlines forward. We need to see that the potential threat of Firestorm is eliminated. Send your attack dog."

"Sire, Ethan is recharging. He expended a lot of energy during the battle at Central City, and-"

"For him to kill Khione and Prometheus should require no great deal of energy, provided you ensure that he wastes no time and does not allow them to merge into Firestorm."

"But-"

"Do not contradict me again, Atlantean. Bear in mind that you owe your continued existence to my judgment; it would be wise of you not to question it."

…

"So the database stored in Chris's arm could potentially give us access to all of the information Apokolips has?" Allie Queen held the piece of machinery with a sense of bewilderment and even a degree of reverence; a smile appeared on her otherwise sickly face. "Even in death you're showing off that big brain of yours, Christopher."

"You just found it lying in the rubble?" Tommy asked, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah! Awesome, right?" Sky grinned, expecting praise.

"How can we be certain it wasn't planted there by Apokoliptian scouts?" Connor chimed in, spinning an arrow on its head to occupy his busy hands. "For all we know, that thing could be pointing us directly toward traps or, worse, signaling our location to them!"

"As much as I hate to admit it, he's got a point," Tommy sighed. He turned his head to Kavita and asked, "You're our expert on all things Apokoliptian. What do you think?"

"This doesn't seem like a setup to me…" Kavita answered after a moment's contemplation. "Don't forget, Darkseid is always underestimating human intelligence. To him, we might as well be a bunch of braindead apes. If this device was buried underneath rubble and hidden like Sky and Jesse say, then it's probably legit. Darkseid would have had it placed right out in plain sight where it would be easy for us to find."

"Maybe this thing can even help us find Q!" Jesse zoomed by Allie, grabbing the arm out of her hand in a blur, and waved it to the group. "Come on, why are we still sitting around?! The database that Chris left here can lead us to Quinton, food, water, Quinton, weapons… _Quinton_!"

"Jesse," Tommy cut in loudly, but not aggressively. "We need to be careful. We're weaker right now than we've ever been, and behaving recklessly will get us killed in a heartbeat."

"But…" Jesse slouched his shoulders, "Guys, come on… we can't just sit on this…"

"I didn't say we wouldn't act," Tommy took the arm carefully. "We just have to be smart about it. If we go charging in somewhere, we're dead."

"I think we should sit tight for now, wait a couple more days until the search for us thins out a little," Mckayla opined.

"I agree," Kavita nodded.

"We're wasting so much time!" Jesse threw his arms up in the air, and they were quickly grabbed by Zatina, a gentle smile on her face.

"Calm down," she whispered.

"My best friend is missing," Jesse shook his head, "I'll calm down when we find him."

…

"Where are we now?" Alex questioned, following behind Troy patiently as the duo stepped off of a small speedboat and onto an island shore.

"Alex, before we go any further, I need you to promise me something, okay?" Troy turned around to face the young Luthor, utter seriousness in his eyes. "I need to know that your loyalty to Tommy is dead. Because once we step beyond this threshold, there's no turning back to him."

"I never possessed any loyalty to Tommy," Alex shook his head. "My loyalties have always been my own."

"Well now they belong to me," Troy spoke with a threatening inflexion. "And if you can prove that, then I'll let you in on the big secret. You'll get to meet my employer."

"How can I prove it, then?"

"All in due time, Alex," Troy smiled. "Until then, you'll have to settle for meeting my employees, instead. They're not far." The two proceeded along the island, silent yet rife with tensions. After a brief trek through the skeletal remains of what had once been a forest, they came to the ruins of an enormous structure. The sign above the doorway, which now hung decrepit and rusted out, read; "Arkham Asylum."

"Arkham?" Alex's eyes widened in surprise. "Why are we at Arkham?"

"This is where my friends like to hang out."

"You have friends?"

"More or less," Troy pushed open the heavy, rusted steel door. "Coming? I'm sure they're just dying to meet you."

Troy led Alex through a series of dimly lit corridors, the walls rotting, the stench of death seeping out from the building's very foundations. Empty cells hung open, the graffiti on the walls left untouched by the destructive specter of time.

Finally, they came to the door of what had been the asylum's library. "Because I like you, Alex, I'm going to warn you ahead of time…" Troy grasped the door handle, "Some of these people might try to kill you."

"I'm used to it."

With a grin, Troy pushed open the door, inciting a slow, ominous creak. "Ladies and gentlemen," Troy waved inside, "Meet our newest recruit, Alexander Luthor."

The group within the library called to mind a demented circus. Troy began to introduce them; "Alex, meet Jack," he waved to a boy sitting atop a tall bookshelf, with his arm cradled atop one knee, the other leg dangling freely; he had pale skin and bright red lips. The majority of his hair was dyed green, though his bangs, which hung over his eyes, were a crimson red. He wore a purple hoodie with ripped sleeves, revealing the sleeves of a tighter shirt underneath; one sleeve red, the other black. Two jingling bells dangled from his collar, and he wore what looked like a utility belt, each compartment a different color.

Below him, leaned against the same bookshelf, was a figure wearing a bright red hat, an orange-tinted pair of glasses, a yellow jacket, green gloves, blue jeans, and violet-colored shoes with indigo laces. He had a cocky smile, and was chewing gum that smelled strongly of some sort of fruit flavor. Troy introduced him as Lucian.

Next was a girl who Troy identified as Natisha, with her feet propped up on the table, reading a book. She was a small girl, Alex judged her to be about ninety pounds, and had a strong analytical flare behind her steely gray eyes. Then came Amal, who was easily the youngest person in the room, looking to be about twelve. He had dark skin and appeared to be of Egyptian descent. He wore a black hoodie and a shimmering lightning bolt necklace. Then there came Melissa, a girl sitting in a yoga pose on the floor. She wore a pair of yoga pants and a black tank top, with sleek black hair tumbling over her pretty face. Her smile revealed sharpened canine teeth.

And finally, there was JJ, a red haired girl with shimmering green eyes, a yellow t-shirt, red shorts and a worn pair of running shoes. JJ stood off to the side by herself, and watched Alex intently, her expression devoid of emotion. She seemed interested in him, but he wasn't quite sure why.

"Jack, Lucian, Natisha, Amal, Melissa, and JJ," Troy repeated, "But in the field, you'll know them as Jester, Spectrum, Queen Bee, Thunderstrike, Catgirl, and Apple, respectively."

"Luthor, huh?" Jack jumped down from the bookshelf, approaching Alex. "Lot more hair than the Luthor I'm familiar with," he withdrew a playing card with a razor edge, "Maybe I outta' give him a cut?" Jack smiled wide, but Alex simply stared back at him, expressing no emotion. At this, Jack put the card away and grinned, "Relax. That was a joke."

"Jack thinks himself to be rather funny," Melissa spoke; "The rest of wouldn't mind cutting out his tongue."

"This one time, I put Jack in a box," Lucian grinned. "Unfortunately, the post office wasn't running that day."

"Good one L," Jack laughed.

"Were you expecting anything less?" The two high-fived.

"Troy has told us quite a bit about you, Alex…" Natisha closed her book. "Apparently, you're rather intelligent."

"I know a thing or two."

"We'll see."

"Is it true what they're saying?" Amal looked up, his youthful face adorned with intrigue. He was playing with his lightning bolt necklace, tumbling it between his fingers. "Has Darkseid been wounded?"

"To the best of my knowledge," Alex nodded.

"I'm going to be the one to kill him," Amal said, determination thick in his tone.

"We'll see about that kiddo," Melissa laughed, roughing up Amal's hair.

"I will! Just wait and see!"

"Who are they?" Alex asked, questioning Troy.

"My team," Troy smiled.

"Are they League kids?"

"Mmm… close."

"What the hell do you mean _close_?"

"Well, the beautiful miss Melissa, here, is the daughter of Catwoman, for starters."

"Melissa Kyle, at your service," the girl shook Alex's hand politely.

Troy patted Lucian on the back, saying, "And our colorful friend here is the offspring of the hero Starfire, father unknown. So more of a Titans-Kid, really."

"Guilty as charged," Lucian shrugged, the grin ever-present on his face as he blew a bubble.

"Amal, our enthusiastic young lad here, doesn't have any special parentage that we know of, but after his aunt was killed by Apokoliptian forces in Egypt, well… he found something _marvelous_. I would have him show it to you, but it's a bit risky while we're inside. You'll see his party trick soon enough."

"Yeah, when I use it to kill Darkseid!" Amal shouted, enthusiastic.

"Then we've got the misses Natisha Irons, granddaughter of the hero called Steel. She's the brains of our little operation; she's not only an expert in robotics, but she's replicated the shrinking technology used by The Atom, back in the day."

"Wasn't really too complicated," Natisha shrugged.

Troy began to continue, "And then we've got-"

"Me!" Jack stepped in front of him. "Jack Quinzel, son of the Joker, at your service."

"_So he claims_," Melissa rolled her eyes. "I think he's full of shit. Who would reproduce with that lunatic?"

"Your mommy banged a freak in a bat suit for years, so…"

"Don't worry," Troy grinned, "She's not mine and Tommy's long-lost-sister, I checked."

"My mother… had her fair share of suitors, yes," Melissa folded her arms. "What of it?"

"Then there's JJ…" Troy looked to the corner, at the red-haired girl, still fixating her gaze on Alex. "But she likes to protect her secrets. I'm sure you of all people can understand that, Alex."

"Yeah…" Alex looked back at JJ, studying her face. "I most certainly do."

"I've been assembling this team for just over a year now," Troy continued. "I plucked the most promising young people from all corners of the Earth and rallied them up in secret."

"Is that why you went undercover in Tommy's team? A recruitment job?"

"There were _many _reasons for my stint in Tommy's team, but that was among them."

"I'm actually curious as to your results."

"Tommy… more bark than he is bite, and far too hard to control. He was an immediate no. Allie, on the other hand… I'd like to have her on the team, but she's too loyal to him. I tried breaking those ties, but it didn't work out, so she was a no-go. Ethan was a major object of interest, but now he's under Apokoliptian control, as long as Flo is a factor… and of course, she's out of the question. Kavita could be valuable, since she spent so much time with Apokolips, but for that same reason, I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her. Mckayla was virtually useless up until recently, when she got ahold of that Green Lantern ring, and by then my cover was already blown. Connor, like Tommy, is too much of a loose cannon. Chris and Corey died, and I have no use for corpses. Zatina can barely control her own abilities as it is, I don't need that type of baggage following us. Sky is powerful, but he's so damn naïve that he'd be an accident waiting to happen against our more manipulative enemies. And that brings us to Quinton and Jesse… those two, I am monumentally interested in. Quinton's ability to improvise and adapt to impossible situations is remarkable, and Jesse is a fountain of untapped potential. I wasn't extremely interested in him until his little stint in the Phantom Zone, when the son of a bitch tore open a damn dimensional rift. Fascinating. The possibility of an instantaneous transport mechanism for my team would be invaluable."

"You'd be wasting your time," Alex shook his head. "Quinton grew up with Tommy and Allie, you'd be hard pressed to make him betray them. And Jesse… I shouldn't even have to explain that one."

"In due time, Alex," Troy smiled, glancing at JJ again. "I have plans for Mr. West. In due time."

"And Quinton?"

"Quinton…" Troy's eyes flashed, "I have Quinton running a little errand for me right now, in fact. He just doesn't know it yet."

…

Kalibak found the entrance to the cavern frozen solid, the wall of ice several feet thick. Snarling, Kalibak took a step backward, swung his arm to the ice wall and shouted, "Open it!" A horde of Parademons immediately opened fire on the ice barrier, blowing it to smithereens. Kalibak roared, "Attack!" Parademons swarmed into the cavern, with Kalibak screaming orders behind them; "Take the two experiments alive, and kill anyone else!"

Standing in the dimly lit center of the cave were two adult figures, slouched over, cowering. Burning with bloodthirst, the Parademons attacked the figures, ripping them apart. But it didn't take long for Kalibak to realize that something was amiss; he ran forward, light in hand, and saw that the figures the Parademons attacked were, in fact, two long-dead corpses, their bodies held upright by wooden bars from a baby cradle. "What is this nonsense?" Kalibak fumed, picking up a wooden chunk of the crib. "Where are Khione and Prometheus?"

"Right here, scuzzball!" Prome's voice erupted from the shadows, and Kalibak looked upward to see diaper sailing at him. The projectile struck his face, bursting into a cloud of baby powder. Kalibak coughed, flinging his arm to fan the powder away, and more diapers rained, coating him and the Parademons in powder.

"Insolent welts!" Kalibak shrieked, straining his eyes through the sting of the baby powder to see Quinton, Kio and Prome lined up at the mouth of the cave, flinging diapers. "Did you really believe such pathetic tactics would be of any harm to _me_? The mighty Kalibak?!" He aimed his club at them, and began charging a blast of energy to fire.

"Actually, no." Quinton spoke casually, calmly. "Here's a Q Fact, Kalibak…" he took a step backward, "Baby powder is flammable."

"Huh?" Kalibak's eyes widened just as he fired the blast of energy from his club. The blast instantly ignited the thick smog of powder in the air, engulfing Kalibak and the Parademons in a ball of fire. The villains screamed, thrashing about as the flames consumed them. The Parademons fired off blasts wildly, driven to panic, and began to collapse the cave around them, causing chunks of debris to begin falling.

"Go!" Quinton leapt out the mouth of the cave, and flung forth a sheet of baby blankets he had tied together. Kio, sitting on Quinton's shoulders, raised his arms and generated a powerful fire in the palms of his hands, sending up hot air to raise up the blanket sheet as Quinton and Prome held its two ends, building a makeshift parachute.

After floating through the air for several minutes, the three touched down in a densely wooded area, and hit the ground running. "I don't get it," Kio huffed, "Why are they after us?"

"They want Firestorm," Quinton shouted back.

"What the heck is a Firestorm?"

"It's a tornado made of fire, stupid!" Prome spat at his brother.

"Nuh-uh, that's a Firenado!"

"Shut up and listen to me!" Quinton whipped around, grabbing the two children. "When the Clock Tower was attacked, you two merged into one being, Firestorm. You saved everyone's lives, and then you both blacked out as soon as the fusion ended. That's why Cadmus created you, you were designed to fight Darkseid. Darkseid wants you out of the way, and he won't stop until he has that, so you _need _to stop fighting, and do what I tell you, okay?"

"What are you talking about dude?" Prome frowned.

"This guy's nuts!" Kio pulled back.

"Uh, okay, let me try to figure out how you might understand this…" Quinton planted his face into his palm, thinking. "Have either of you ever heard of Voltron?"

"What the heck is a Voltron?"

"Alright, so that approach is shot."

Suddenly, the air around them seemingly began to heat up, the temperature skyrocketing. "What the…?" Quinton wiped sweat from his brow, and looked up to see storm clouds rolling into the sky. "Shit. We need to keep moving, lay low and don't make a sound."

"What's happeni-" before Prome could finish his question, a bolt of lightning exploded from the clouds and struck the ground between the two boys, blowing them in opposite directions. Through the cloud of smoke, a figure manifested where the lightning had struck; there stood Ethan Pierce, eyes glowing a deep blue, the Atlantean markings radiating all over his body.

"Quinton…" Ethan's voice was distorted, like a conglomerate of Flo's voice and his own. "You just don't know how to die, do you?"

"Do you ever get tired of using men as puppets, Flo?" Quinton spoke calmly, unfazed, hands slumped into his jacket pockets. "First it was me, now Ethan, and you're gunning for Firestorm next. That's technically two at once. Never knew you were into that."

"What makes you think we seek to control the Firestorm project? Why not destroy it?" Ethan held out his hand toward Kio, a surge of electricity radiating in his palm.

"Darkseid laps up power like a junkie needing a fix. He won't waste his precious opportunity to have their power at his disposal. Of course, I'm assuming you can only control one person at a time, since you had your paws on every single one of us at once point or another and only Ethan got brainwashed… which means you're probably planning to kill him as soon as you transfer the spell to Firestorm."

"Still prattling on as usual I see," the Ethan/Flo voice scoffed.

"Of course, by that same vein of logic, you wouldn't be able to control a separated Kio and Prome… no, you need the whole package. Which means that before you can seal the deal, you have to draw out Firestorm. Force them to fuse. Is that why you sent me here?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't know _how _to make them fuse into Firestorm, but you think I can figure it out. So you send me here through a Boom Tube, then you sick your brainwashed attack dog on me and rough me up a bit, so I have no choice but to make them fuse and save my life. Only then you turn tail and switch the spell, take over Firestorm, and use the most powerful being on Earth to kill me and Ethan on site. Is that it? The master plan?"

"Actually, Quinton, I didn't send you here and I have no idea how you _got _here," Ethan's face contorted into a smile, "But now that you lay it out for me, that isn't such a bad plan."

"Oh," Quinton frowned, adjusting his glasses. "That was… unanticipated. So to be clear, you aren't pregnant either?"

"_What_?"

"So much for that theory."

"Idiot," Ethan/Flo growled. Ethan raised his palm, prepared to blast Quinton. His eyes darted back and forth between the battered children on either side of him, and he spoke, "Look away kiddies. I have to teach my ex how to die."

…

Allie and Tommy fell against a slanted chunk of debris, enraptured in a kiss. Pulling back carefully, Allie whispered into his ear, "Tommy, if I were to do something really, really underhanded and wrong, would you forgive me for it?"

"Uh… like what?"

"Like… say, coating my lips in a sleeping potion put together by Zatina, so that you would fall asleep and I could take Chris's arm to go look for Quinton?"

"Allie, what are you-" Tommy yawned, becoming drowsy. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he gasped, "Allie! You didn't-" she cut him off by resuming the kiss.

"I'm really, really sorry," she said as his body began to go limp. "You'll wake up in about six hours, okay? And then I promise I'll make this up to you however you want."

"Allie…" Tommy forced the word out of his mouth as his muscles fell into a state of borderline immobility.

"Love you," she kissed him on the cheek as he finally succumbed to the drug and passed out. Allie propped him gently against the wall, and then moved for Tommy's storage section, where he hid all of his belongings beneath a chunk of rubble; his knife, his journal, and now, Chris's arm database. She took the arm, covered up his supplies again, stopped at the reservoir to wash off her lips, and then moved up to the entrance to meet with Jesse, Zatina, and Sky. "Did you guys get the others?"

"Yup," Zatina nodded. "Mckayla, Kavita and Connor are all out cold."

"Did you get the arm?" Sky asked enthusiastically.

"Right here," Allie held up the severed cybernetic limb. "Wasn't too hard, I just had to spy on Tommy for a little bit and find out where he kept it."

"Thank you so much for this, you guys," Jesse took the arm in hand, a smile on his face.

"Well, I couldn't stand seeing you sad…" Zatina grinned.

"I want to find Quinton just as badly as you do," Allie added. "And Tommy… I know he means well, and I know we're horribly short on resources at the moment, but if we keep up this whole extreme-caution thing, we're going to starve to death in this stupid tunnel. Maybe this will be a wakeup call."

"Guys, I kinda' feel bad about this…" Sky dropped his gaze, playing with his hair. "I mean, they're all going to be really unhappy when they wake up."

"Not if we come back with something we need," Allie interjected.

"Alright, so I'm looking over this database…" Jesse ran his hand at super speed over the arm's keypad, "It looks like Apokolips just deployed a large attack squad to the forest not far from our old hideout at the Clock Tower. And there are reports going back and forth about League Kids present at the scene."

"We're all accounted for except Quinton!" Sky shrugged, "This is even easier than we thought."

"How would he end up there?" Allie frowned, "That's got to be ten thousand miles from Central City."

"Could it maybe be Troy who they're reporting?" Zatina suggested.

"If that's the case, then we're definitely going. I want another shot at him," Allie said.

"Well, improbable or not, this is our best chance at finding Quinton…" Jesse smiled, "Beam us up, Z."

"What a horrible use of a Star Trek reference. You should be ashamed," Zatina smiled, taking a step back from the group. _"Nruter su ot ruo remrof esab!"_

A purple portal opened in the center of the group, leading to the ruins of the old Clock Tower. "Ladies first," Sky offered, stepping aside for Allie.

"Well…" she took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing."

…

Not long after introductions had been made, Troy called his team to the council room; the former Arkham office of the late Dr. Hugo Strange. Soon Troy Prince, Alex Luthor, Jack Quinzel, Natisha Irons, Melissa Kyle, Amal Dakur, Lucien, and JJ were all gathered around a table, waiting for Troy to speak.

JJ, the redheaded girl, continued to fixate her gaze upon Alex. There was something oddly familiar about her, but Alex couldn't place it. Before he could think any further about the matter, Troy began speaking. "We're here to discuss our planning phase," he announced.

"Does that mean I can discuss my plan to poison the water and watch you all slowly die around me? Because that's about to take effect," Jack smiled, and then noticed Amal turning pale and chuckled, "Relax. That was a joke."

"Focus up, Jack," Troy placed a detailed map of an Apokoliptian building before them. "This is an Orphanage in the Florida Keys called Hell's Gate. It's the second biggest Apokoliptian Orphanage on Earth, after The Hole. And it's where they took your sister for extraction after she was captured, Alex."

"I've looked into it before," Alex nodded. "They may only be the second largest Orphanage, but they have the number one highest fatality rate. Getting sent to Hell's Gate is a death sentence."

"Correct," Troy nodded. "A lot of kids are dying there, even by Apokolips' standards. As a result, they're turning out very few warriors, and with Apokolips officially at war with Thomas Grayson's team, soldiers are something they can't afford a shortage of. So, to try and decrease the mortality rate at Hell's Gate, they're sending an inspector from Apokolips there tomorrow to try and improve the facility's conditions. Any guesses as to who that inspector is?"

"Hmm… does he, at any point, shout Go Go Gadget?" Lucian shrugged.

"Good one L."

"Thanks J," Jack and Lucien high-fived.

"Will you two shut up?" Natisha rolled her eyes, "Troy is trying to speak."

"The inspector, ladies and gentlemen, is the good mother herself…" Troy slammed a photograph of Granny Goodness onto the table.

"She's going to be there?" Alex gasped.

"Calm down tiger," Melissa grinned, "I've been to Hell's Gate. Security is tighter than Nightwing's ass. And they'll no doubt double down on security detail while Granny's in town."

"What exactly is our goal, here?" Lucien questioned.

"Granny has something in her possession that we need," Troy said, pointing to a pendant around Granny's neck. "A reliable source has informed us that her pendant contains a database of _all _the kids in Orphanages, both on Earth and on Apokolips, with detailed information on each one of them. Which means, with it, I can pinpoint who I need for my army."

"Army?" Natisha frowned, "So we're building a child army? That's the master plan?"

"Only a small part of it," Troy grinned. "Look at this way; it's taken me over a year to assemble the seven of you… with this pendant, I'll be able to quadruple our ranks in a quarter of that time."

"So how do we get in?" Lucien asked.

"We'll split into two different teams. I will lead Alpha Team, consisting of myself, Natisha, Lucien, and Amal. Beta Team will be led by Melissa, consisting of Alex, Jack, and JJ. Beta Team will be tasked with getting in and shutting down the building's security, here…" Troy pointed to a highlighted area at the center of the map, "Their control unit. Natisha has designed a virus that will shut them down for ten minutes. With Alex's EMP, we can triple that. That will leave Alpha Team an approximate thirty minute window, in which we can take out Granny's defenses and get the pendant. And once we do…" Troy looked up to meet Alex's eyes; "Alex will kill her."

"Why him?" Natisha raised an eyebrow.

"Consider it his initiation."

"I don't like it, Troy…" Melissa brushed a strand of hair from her face. "We've put a lot of effort into keeping ourselves hidden. Why come rushing out of the woodwork so carelessly now?"

"If they'd known what kind of forces I had assembled here on Earth, Granny Goodness would never risk leaving her seat on Apokolips. Now that she's finally here, this is our opportunity to make our move. We'll take her by surprise and get out quickly and efficiently. Any other questions?"

Jack raised his hand politely, and Troy pointed to him; "Jack?"

"Yes, Troy, I was wondering, in what part of this ingenious plan do you account for us all getting fucking killed? I must have missed it."

"Ye of little faith," Amal piped in, shaking his head. He fidgeted with his lightning bolt necklace, and looked up at their leader. "I trust you, Troy."

"Trusting Troy has gotten us far up to this point," Natisha shrugged. "I'm game."

"Well…" Melissa sighed, "All my instincts are telling me that its time to pull out."

"She got that instinct from her mother," Jack smiled, inciting a snicker from Lucien.

"I guess…" Melissa smiled, looking up at Troy. "I guess I can't really refuse, since you've made me a leader and all."

"So are all of us in agreement?" Troy looked to JJ, who simply nodded. "Good. And Alex…" Troy rolled up the map, meeting Alex's gaze again. "If you perform well on this mission… I'll introduce you to my employer."

"I look forward to it."

**A/N: And the stage is set! I've already gotten to work on the next chapter, and I will probably have it up early next week, delays be damned! In the next chapter, we'll get to know Troy's team a little bit better, and there's a great battle against the brainwashed Ethan. I have plenty of surprises in store for you, so stay tuned!**


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